Sri Lanka enjoyed a rare productive batting session in the series before India removed three batters to inch towards a comprehensive victory on the third day of the second Test at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on Monday.
Resuming at 28 for one in pursuit of an improbable 447-run target, Sri Lankan batters Kusal Mendis (54 off 60 balls) and Dimuth Karunaratne (67 batting) showed stomach for fight and their intent resulted in visitors getting 123 runs.
At the tea break, Sri Lanka were 151 for four with Karunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella (10) at the crease.
With sun beating down on a pitch that has been assisting the spinners from day one, surviving against Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja’s guile was an onerous task for the visitors.
Yet, adopting a positive approach, both Mendis (54 off 60 balls) and his Karunaratne used their feet with confidence to counter the Indian spinners.
Mendis was impressive on both front and back foot as he pulled and cut the short-pitched stuff and used his feet to cut down the spin.
Karunaratne too charged down the wicket, following a similar plan but Mendis was more expressive. Later the skipper too batted with much more confidence.
Mendis completed his fifty with a single off Jadeja but was beaten by flight on an Ashwin delivery and was stumped by Rishabh Pant.
That brought about the end of their fighting 96-run stand for the second wicket. Jadeja cleaned up Angelo Mathews (1) and Ashwin had Dhananjaya de Silva (4) caught at forward short-leg.
Karunaratne was ruled caught behind by umpire off Jadeja but the Lankan skipper survived, using DRS with replay showing that the ball had kissed the thigh pad and the bat before reaching Pant’s gloves. He completed his fifty with a single off Axar Patel, who replaced Ashwin from the pavilion end.
A small partnership began to develop between Karunaratne and Dickwella even as Mohammed Shami troubled the batters with his pace.
Brief Scores:
India: 252 and 303 for 9 declared.
Sri Lanka: 109 and 151 for 4 in 39 overs (Dimuth Karunaratne 67 batting, Kusal Mendis 54; R Ashwin 2/40).