IND vs SL: India's hold strong in Colombo, Sri Lanka in danger of follow-on

by

New Delhi: Indian bowlers have tightened the noose on Sri Lanka on the third day of the Colombo Test. In response to the Indian team's 503 runs in the first innings, Sri Lanka has scored 265 runs for 8 wickets by the end of the day's play. He still has to score 39 more runs to avoid follow on. In such a situation, on the fourth day of the match, India will be eyeing to defeat Sri Lanka quickly and move towards victory.

Dinusha single-handedly handled Sri Lanka's innings   

India declared its first innings at 503 runs for 9 wickets. In this way, Sri Lankan team is still 238 runs behind the Indian score. At the time of tea break, Sri Lanka's score was 216 runs for 7 wickets and there were chances of it getting reduced soon.

But Dinusha dashed the hopes of the Indian bowlers. This short, left-handed batsman showed excellent fighting spirit. He scored more than 50 runs for the third consecutive innings and kept India hungry for wickets for two sessions.

Dinusha completed her half-century in 84 balls. At the time of stumps, he was unbeaten on 85 runs and Lahiru Kumara was present at the crease with him on 8 runs. The day's play had to end early due to rain and bad light.

Sri Lanka tried to make a comeback in the first session  

Sri Lanka started the morning at 8 runs for 2 wickets and added 122 runs in the first session. Kamil Misara was caught behind the wicket by Prasidh Krishna in the seventh over of the day. After this, Suriyabandara and Kamindu Mendis made a partnership of 87 runs and kept India wicketless for almost two hours.

Suryabandara completed his first half-century on 76 balls. Just before lunch, Prasidh Krishna broke the partnership by getting Mendis caught by Jadeja at mid-wicket. In the second session which started late due to rain, Sri Lanka added 86 runs and lost 3 wickets.

Indian bowlers were troubled by the lower order    

In the second session, Manav Suthar and Ravindra Jadeja gave shocks to Sri Lanka. On Suthar's ball, Dhananjay de Silva was caught by KL Rahul in the slip. Jadeja bowled Suriyabandara and Siraj dismissed Dickwella. But after this Dinusha got two fighting partners in the form of Keshara Nuvanta and Lahiru Kumara.

With Nuvanta, he added 57 runs for the eighth wicket and so far has made an unbroken partnership of 35 runs with Lahiru for the ninth wicket. Prasidh Krishna tried to trouble him with short balls and Manav Suthar, Jadeja and Saransh Jain tried to trouble him with spin, but Dinusha kept facing every challenge boldly.

Leave a Comment