Sri Lanka lost opener Lahiru Thirimanne in the 1st over of their 2nd innings, but skipper Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis managed to see off the Indian attack for day 2. Sri Lanka went to stumps at 28/1, still 419 adrift of the target of 447 set by the hosts.
India declared their 2nd innings at the fall of the 9th wicket, leaving Sri Lanka a target of 447 and just over a half an hour to negotiate at the end of day 2.
Earlier in the day, Sri Lanka crumbled in the first session, after coming into the day 6 wickets down. Niroshan Dickwella looked to start off well, getting two boundaries off the 1st over of the day, before leaving Lasith Embuldeniya to face up to R Ashwin on the other end. Embuldeniya did well in defense but inexplicably took a single off the last delivery of the over to take strike in the next over and was duly gotten rid of by Jasprit Bumrah.
It was the kind of decision-making characteristic of Sri Lanka during this series, where they are yet to cross 200 in three innings.
They ended up losing their last 4 wickets for 23 runs, giving India a lead of 143 going into their 2nd innings.
With plenty of time left in the Test, India just batted and batted and batted. The track which had looked like a minefield with Sri Lankan batters at the crease, suddenly turned into a typical day 2 pitch with the Indians batting.
There was some variable bounce and turn, but the Indian batters negotiated it with ease, with more of less every batter managing a start. Rishabh Pant went about his business as usual, clobbering a 28-ball half century – the fastest by an Indian in Tests.
During Pant’s stay at the crease, India were cruising at 7 runs an over, incredible considering this is the same pitch that produced 16 wickets on day 1.
Shreyas Iyer continued his form, getting another half-century to push India’s lead towards 450.
Praveen Jayawickrama and Lasith Embuldeniya picked up 7 wickets between them but were far too inconsistent in their lines and lengths to put the batters under any sustained pressure.
It was another day of demoralizing cricket by the visitors against a ruthless Indian side looking to move up the ICC Test Championship table.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | c Dhananjaya Lakshan b Lasith Embuldeniya | 15 | 25 | 1 | 1 | 60.00 |
| Mayank Agarwal | run out (Niroshan Dickwella) | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 57.14 |
| Hanuma Vihari | c Niroshan Dickwella b Praveen Jayawickrama | 31 | 81 | 4 | 0 | 38.27 |
| Virat Kohli | lbw b Dhananjaya de Silva | 23 | 48 | 2 | 0 | 47.92 |
| Rishab Pant | b Lasith Embuldeniya | 39 | 26 | 7 | 0 | 150.00 |
| Shreyas Iyer | st Niroshan Dickwella b Praveen Jayawickrama | 92 | 98 | 10 | 4 | 93.88 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | c Lahiru Thirimanne b Lasith Embuldeniya | 4 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | c Niroshan Dickwella b Dhananjaya de Silva | 13 | 33 | 1 | 0 | 39.39 |
| Axar Patel | b Suranga Lakmal | 9 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 128.57 |
| Mohammed Shami | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Praveen Jayawickrama | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 62.50 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | b | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 17 (b 7 , lb 8 , nb 2, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 252/10 (59.1 Overs, RR: 4.26) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-10 (1.3) Mayank Agarwal, 2-29 (9.3) Rohit Sharma, 3-76 (26.2) Hanuma Vihari, 4-86 (27.3) Virat Kohli, 5-126 (32.4) Rishab Pant, 6-148 (36.4) Ravindra Jadeja, 7-183 (47.1) Ravichandran Ashwin, 8-215 (49.6) Axar Patel, 9-229 (53.5) Mohammed Shami, 10-252 (59.1) Shreyas Iyer, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vishwa Fernando | 3 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 6.00 | |
| Suranga Lakmal | 8 | 3 | 12 | 1 | 1.50 | |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | 24 | 2 | 94 | 3 | 3.92 | |
| Praveen Jayawickrama | 17.1 | 3 | 81 | 3 | 4.74 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 7 | 1 | 32 | 2 | 4.57 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kusal Mendis | c Shreyas Iyer b Jasprit Bumrah | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | b Mohammed Shami | 4 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 30.77 |
| Lahiru Thirimanne | c Shreyas Iyer b Jasprit Bumrah | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 133.33 |
| Angelo Mathews | c Rohit Sharma b Jasprit Bumrah | 43 | 85 | 3 | 2 | 50.59 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | lbw b Mohammed Shami | 10 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 41.67 |
| Charith Asalanka | c Ravichandran Ashwin b Axar Patel | 5 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 62.50 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | c Rishab Pant b Jasprit Bumrah | 21 | 38 | 1 | 0 | 55.26 |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | c Rishab Pant b Jasprit Bumrah | 1 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 6.25 |
| Suranga Lakmal | b Ravichandran Ashwin | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 55.56 |
| Praveen Jayawickrama | not out | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Vishwa Fernando | st b | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Extras | 1 (b 1 , lb 0 , nb 0, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 109/10 (35.5 Overs, RR: 3.04) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-2 (2.1) Kusal Mendis, 2-14 (4.2) Lahiru Thirimanne, 3-14 (5.1) Dimuth Karunaratne, 4-28 (11.5) Dhananjaya de Silva, 5-50 (17.3) Charith Asalanka, 6-85 (28.1) Angelo Mathews, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jasprit Bumrah | 10 | 4 | 24 | 5 | 2.40 | |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 8.5 | 1 | 30 | 2 | 3.53 | |
| Mohammed Shami | 6 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 3.00 | |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 6 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 2.50 | |
| Axar Patel | 5 | 1 | 21 | 1 | 4.20 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayank Agarwal | c Dhananjaya de Silva b Lasith Embuldeniya | 22 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 64.71 |
| Rohit Sharma | c Angelo Mathews b Dhananjaya de Silva | 46 | 79 | 0 | 0 | 58.23 |
| Hanuma Vihari | b Praveen Jayawickrama | 35 | 79 | 0 | 0 | 44.30 |
| Virat Kohli | lbw b Praveen Jayawickrama | 13 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 81.25 |
| Rishab Pant | c & b Praveen Jayawickrama | 50 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 161.29 |
| Shreyas Iyer | lbw b Lasith Embuldeniya | 67 | 87 | 0 | 0 | 77.01 |
| Ravindra Jadedja | b Avishka Fernando | 22 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 48.89 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | c Niroshan Dickwella b Praveen Jayawickrama | 13 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 52.00 |
| Axar Patel | b | 9 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 90.00 |
| Mohammed Shami | not out | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 200.00 |
| Extras | 10 (b 8 , lb 1 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 303/9 (68.5 Overs, RR: 4.4) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suranga Lakmal | 10 | 2 | 34 | 0 | 3.40 | |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | 20.5 | 1 | 87 | 3 | 4.24 | |
| Vishwa Fernando | 10 | 2 | 48 | 1 | 4.80 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 9 | 0 | 47 | 1 | 5.22 | |
| Praveen Jayawickrama | 19 | 2 | 78 | 4 | 4.11 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lahiru Thirimanne | lbw b Jasprit Bumrah | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | b | 107 | 174 | 0 | 0 | 61.49 |
| Kusal Mendis | st b | 54 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 180.00 |
| Angelo Mathews | b | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c & b | 4 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 19.05 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | st b | 12 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 30.77 |
| Charith Asalanka | c & b | 5 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | lbw b | 2 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 9.09 |
| Suranga Lakmal | b | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| Vishwa Fernando | c & b | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| Praveen Jayawickrama | not out | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 20 (b 16 , lb 3 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 208/10 (59.3 Overs, RR: 3.5) |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jasprit Bumrah | 9 | 4 | 23 | 3 | 2.56 | |
| Mohammed Shami | 6 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 4.33 | |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 19.3 | 3 | 55 | 4 | 2.85 | |
| Ravindra Jadedja | 14 | 2 | 48 | 1 | 3.43 | |
| Axar Patel | 11 | 1 | 37 | 2 | 3.36 | |
