SL vs Ind: Sri Lanka fights back, racks up 209/2 at stumps

Colombo: In what could be said as an awe-inspiring fightback, Sri Lanka on Day 3 of the second Test of three-match series defied Indian bowlers for wickets and by stumps it racked up 209/2 in its second innings at Sinhalese Sports Club here on Saturday.

Sri Lanka need to keep its survival mode switched on to avoid defeat. Dimuth (92) and night-watchman Malinda (2) were at the crease when the day's play ended.

Credit goes to SL batsmen Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne, who displayed some phenomenal batting display to counter attack Virat Kohli and brigade.

It was an outstanding effort from Mendis who departed after scoring a much-needed ton. His 135-ball 110-run knock was studded with 17 fours.

Dimuth assisted Mendis in a way Lankans would have expected from him. He is near to a century, smashing 92 runs with 12 boundaries.

For India, Hardik Pandya and Umesh Yadav one-wicket each.

Earlier in the day, Ravichandran Ashwin clinched a five-wicket haul as India bowled out Sri Lanka for 183 runs in the first innings to take a massive lead of 439 runs at lunch on the third day of the second cricket Test here on Saturday.

With Indian captain Virat Kohli deciding to enforce the follow on, the Lankans face an uphill battle in their bid to stave off defeat.

Ashwin ended up with figures of 5/69 in 16.4 overs. 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.

This is the 26th five-wicket haul for Ashwin in Test cricket, achieving the feat in his 51st appearance in the longest format of the game. He is placed second in the all-time list among Indian bowlers. Former leg-spinner Anil Kumble is at the top spot with 35 hauls from 132 Test matches.

Harbhajan Singh is third with 25 hauls from 103 Tests, the legendary Kapil Dev is placed fourth with 23 from 131 while B.S. Chandrashekhar has 16 from 58.

Apart from Ashwin, Jadeja also touched a milestone and became the only left-arm bowler to claim quickest 150 wickets (in 32) , beating Mutchek Johnson who did the same in 34 matches.

This is also the third highest first innings lead for India. The highest is 492 against Bangladesh in Dhakain 2007 while the lead of 478 runs against West Indies in the Kolkata Test of 2011 is second on the list.

Niroshan Dickwella was the highest scorer among the Lankans with a quickfire 51 runs off 48 deliveries which included seven boundaries and a six.

Resuming the day at 50/2, Sri Lanka lost wickets in quick succession. Quite a few of the Lankan batsmen managed to get decent starts but were unable to convert them into big scores.

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.

However, that only proved to be a short respite for the hosts and as soon as both departed in consecutive overs, the Indian bowlers were back on top.

The rest of the Lankan batsmen could not last on a pitch which was taking quite a bit of turn as the Indians tightened their grip on the match.