The Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team dominated completely on the third day of the second India vs Sri Lanka Test at the SCC in Colombo on August 5. The game of day three concluded with Sri Lanka having scored 209/2. They are still trailing by 230 runs.
The home side resumed the game at 50/2 on day 3 and needed to surpass the mammoth total of 622 runs scored by the Indian batsmen. unfortunately, the entire Lankan batting order fell like the house of cards and were dismissed within 183 runs. As a result, they were enforced a follow on while the Indians had a massive lead of 439 runs at lunch.
Niroshan Dickwella remained the highest scorer among the Lankans who scored a quick fire 51 runs off 48 deliveries including seven boundaries and a six. Dinesh Chandimal and Kusal Mendis departed shortly after the start of the day’s play before Dickwella and Angelo Mathews managed to hold the Indian bowlers at bay for a short while with a 53-run stand. On the other hand, rest of the batsmen couldn’t spend much time on the pitch and lost the grip on the game.
Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took his 26th Test five-wicket haul and ended up with figures of 5/69 in 16.4 overs. He is placed second on the all-time list among Indian bowlers. Former leg-spinner Anil Kumble is at the top spot with 35 hauls from 132 Test matches. Fast bowler Mohammed Shami bowled superbly for figures of 2/13 while left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja returned 2/84. Fast bowler Umesh Yadav also bagged a wicket.
With Indian captain Virat Kohli deciding to enforce the follow on, the Lankans face an uphill battle in their bid to stave off defeat.
The Sri Lankans once again came to bat after the lunch as they needed to save the follow on. Openers Dimuth Karunarathne and Upul Tharanga came to bat. Once again the home team went through a quick wicket loss. Tharanga was dismissed by Ashwin while he had scored only 2 runs.
Kusal Mendis came in to bat at number 3. Both Mendis and Karunaratne added a total of 191 runs for the 2nd wicket. Mendis scored his career’s 3rd century and ended up scoring 110 runs off 135 balls which includes 17 boundaries.
A few minutes before the stumps, wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha took a stunning catch to dismiss Mendis on Pandya’s delivery.
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