Sri Lanka v India 3rd Test day 3 review: Sri Lanka pull things back with 3 quick wickets

Sri Lanka v India 3rd Test day 3 review: Sri Lanka pull things back with 3 quick wickets: Day 3 of the Colombo Test would have ended with advantage India, had Dhammika Prasand and Nuwan Pradeep not grabbed those 3 wickets, while the Indian top order was just able to put 7 on the board. Earlier, the day started with Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath getting his team the remaining couple without much ado as India’s makeshift opener Cheteshwar Pujara walked back at 145*; becoming the first opener in 4 years to carry his bat through the innings.

Conditions remained overcast and helpful for the seamers on day 3. Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav exploited it to the best, bowling perfect lines to trouble the batsmen. What they with absolute virtuous was to make the Sri Lankan batsmen play most of the balls darted at them. Ishant drew first blood getting Tharanga caught by Rahul in slips.

Umesh followed it by cleaning up Silva who was not sure whether to go at it or let it go, and ended up edging it onto his stumps. After both his front-line pacers had bowled 5 overs each skipper Kohli brought in Stuart Binny into the attack. Binny without the additional pace bowled on the money and in the zone to trouble the batsmen enough. He was lucky to get Chandimal trapped leg-before, who was lucky himself to be dropped by Lokesh Rahul in the slips on 0.

Skipper Mathews once again fell outside the off-stump tentatively edging an Ishant Sharma delivery. And in 18 overs more than half the Sri Lankan side was back into the hut with just 47 on the board. Virat and the boys started getting the feeling that they might well enforce the follow on, trusting the Lankan tail, which had until then shown little resistance in the series.

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Rahul who grabbed a couple of good, low catches in the slips dropped Kusal Perera as the edge was flying to the cordon, Rohit tried to hold it in recoil but it kissed down. The catch well earned India the frustration they had to suffer as the last 4 added 154 to marginalize the lead to just 111, from having been in a position facing the danger of a follow on. Perera completed his half-century in Jayasuriya style getting the attack back to the bowlers. His 55 gave Herath enough confidence to play his shots as he fell just one short of his fifty. Prasad too contributed 27 before Sri Lanka were bowled out for 201. India’s pace spearhead, the lanky Ishant who bowled his heart out to success grabbed a fifer, as all Indian bowlers but the leading wicket-taker of the series R Ashwin got a wicket or two.

India’s second innings started in the post tea session, with a lot to be played on the day, though India must been happier that the clouds poured in, since Prasad and Pradeep lent them early blows, leaving them gasping at 7 for 3. At the end of the day, Indian skipper Virat Kohli and no. 5 Rohit Sharma held the ends and the Indian scoreboard read 21. Pujara got his name listed as one of the two who have got out for a duck in the 2nd innings after carrying his bat through in the 1^st.

Dhammika Prasad once again got the 1^st wicket, breaking off Pujara’s stumps. As many as 15 wickets fell on the day while only 242 runs could be scored in 65.1 overs. While there are still 2 days to be played in the Test and a result looks pretty certain, while the Indian team has a lead to be happy about it isn’t as big to concern Sri Lanka, and the Lions would certainly push early tomorrow to break through Kohli or Rohit and expose the tail against the hard ball.

Brief Scores:
India 1^st innings – 312-10 (Pujara 145*, Mishra 59; Prasad 4-100)

Sri Lanka 1^st innings – 201-10 (Perera 55, Herath 49; Ishant 5-54)

India 2^nd innings – 21-3 (Pradeep 2-6) lead by 132 runs