Manav Suthar struck with his first ball in Test cricket and finished with four wickets, while Ravindra Jadeja claimed three to bowl Sri Lanka out for 284 on the third day in Galle. The dismissal handed India a first-innings lead of 178 runs, despite a battling century from Sonal Dinusha.
Suthar and Jadeja Break Through After Dinusha-Dickwella Stand
Sri Lanka slipped to 90 for 5 before Dinusha and Niroshan Dickwella came together and denied India any thought of enforcing the follow-on. The pair added 146 runs for the sixth wicket as the older ball lost its bite and turned soft in their hands.
Dinusha reached his maiden Test hundred during the stand, while Dickwella continued to carry the unwanted tag of most Test half-centuries without a century. Prasidh Krishna eventually ended that partnership, producing a delivery with the 62-over-old ball that took Dickwella’s outside edge for 80.
Suthar walked out to bowl in only the eighth over of the day, after India lost time coming out to bat with the score at nine down. Mohammed Siraj struck first, removing Nishan Madushka with a ball that seamed away and carried to first slip.
Suthar then troubled the batters with sharp turn and bounce from the new ball, dismissing Dinesh Chandimal off his opening delivery and later forcing Lahiru Udara into an ugly cut that landed safely in the hands of backward point.
Dinusha’s Century Stand Tests India’s Patience
Dickwella and Dinusha rode their luck early in the partnership, surviving a couple of edges that fell short along with mistimed sweeps that failed to find fielders. Once set, both batters swept freely through the middle overs, forcing India onto the back foot.
Dickwella relied on the regulation sweep almost every time he faced a spinner, while Dinusha turned to the reverse sweep and the slog sweep, even hitting Jadeja for six with the latter shot.
The session after lunch produced four runs an over without a single wicket falling, as Siraj tested the batters with reverse swing that went unrewarded. After tea, Dickwella and Dinusha struck early boundaries again, only for Prasidh to change his approach with a wobble-seam delivery that seamed away and found Dickwella’s edge, ending an innings that lasted a hundred balls for the first time in 21 Test innings.
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Jadeja Reaches 350 Wickets as India Take Control
A leading edge from Keshara Nuwantha off a cover drive struck substitute fielder Yashasvi Jaiswal on the knee at silly point and lobbed into his hands, giving Jadeja his 350th Test wicket and making him only the ninth spinner to reach that mark.
Prabath Jayasuriya stayed at the crease long enough to help Sri Lanka pass the follow-on target before top-edging a slog sweep off Suthar shortly after Dinusha completed his century.
Jadeja returned to trap Dinusha lbw with a quicker delivery, and Lahiru Kumara fell stumped off Suthar, who claimed his fourth wicket. Bad light cut short India’s second innings by 13 overs, leaving the tourists with a lead of 237 runs and 59 for 1 at the close, with 196 overs still available in the match to force a result.
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