Colombo Test: Sri Lanka loses both openers for 50 in reply to India's 622/9

Colombo: After the dominating show of batting, Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin gave gave two early jolts to Sri Lanka to keep the visiting team on top of the second Test being played at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground here on Friday.

At the end of Day 2, Sri Lanka was reeling under immense pressure at 50/2, with skipper Dinesh Chandimal (8 off 21) and Kusal Mendis (16 off 48) batting at the crease. Ashwin dismissed both the openers, Upul Tharanga (0) and Dimuth Karunaratne (25).

Sri Lanka still trails by 572 runs with eight wickets in hand.

Earlier, it was the display of sheer dominance by Indian batsmen against Sri Lanka in the first inning of the second Test, as except Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya, all of the frontline batsmen crossed the 50-run mark.

Before declaring the inning, India piled up a humongous total of 622/9d against sloppy Sri Lankan bowlers.

Beginning the second day from 344/3 with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane batting at the crease, India suffered the early jolt when the former went back at the individual score of 133 runs off 232 balls, hitting 11 fours and a six. Rahane carried his inning forward a little but could not go beyond 132 runs, leaving India at 413/5. He took 222 balls and laced his inning with 14 boundaries.

Wriddhiman Saha (67 off 134) and Ravichandran Ashwin (54 off 92) led India forward to 451 before the latter returned to the pavilion. Hardi Pandya, who was playing his second match only, scored 20 runs off the equal number of deliveries with 3 fours.

Also Read: India reach 442/5 at lunch vs Sri Lanka on day 2 of second Test

Ravindra Jadeja played a key role in taking India beyond the 600-run mark with his 70-run inning. He also accelerated the scoring rate and took just 85 balls. He smashed 4 fours and 3 sixes in his breezy inning.

Mohammed Shami once again played an aggressive cameo of 19 runs which came of only 8 deliveries and was decorated with 1 four and 2 sixes that he shamed on back to back deliveries of Rangana Herath before getting out on the third one.

Herath, however, was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka as he managed four scalps in his 42 overs and gave away 154 runs. Malinda Pushpakumara took two wickets for 156 runs in his 38 overs, while Dimuth Karunaratne and Dilruwan Perera plucked one wicket each.