GALLE

Left-arm spinners Manav Suthar and Ravindra Jadeja shared seven wickets between themselves as India bowled Sri Lanka out for 284 on Day Three of the first Test, and sealed a formidable 178-run first-innings lead before rain forced early stumps to be taken at the Galle International Stadium in Galle on Monday.

Arriving on the tour with immense expectations, Suthar lived up to the billing by striking with his very first ball and finishing with 4-76 in a spell where he got turn and bounce while hitting the right lengths. His veteran spin partner Jadeja chipped in with 3-57, and even crossed the 350 Test-wicket mark. Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna took a wicket apiece to round off a thoroughly clinical collective bowling effort for India, who briefly entertained hopes of enforcing the follow-on after reducing the hosts to 90/5.

However, Sonal Dinusha and Niroshan Dickwella mounted a stubborn recovery through a 146-run sixth-wicket partnership as the ball softened and lost its bite. The duo showed exceptional composure and absorbed pressure, including sweeping and reverse-sweeping very well, to deny India the opportunity to put pressure on them. While Dinusha pushed on to register a brilliant maiden Test hundred off 168 balls, Dickwella’s search for an elusive three-figure score continued on his return to the format after nearly three years. The wicketkeeper-batter remains with the record for most Test half-centuries without a hundred when he fell for a well-made 80 off 115 balls as Krishna produced a beauty with the old ball to trigger the final collapse.

In the morning, India’s first innings wrapped up inside four balls and less than three minutes for 462, after Asitha Fernando took out Prasidh Krishna when he gloved behind to Dickwella. After that, India’s bowlers immediately went to work and needed just two deliveries to get their first breakthrough.

Siraj struck with a classic outswinger and induced an edge from Nishan Madushka to have him caught at first slip and send the opener back for a duck. After that, the Indian spin troika of Suthar, Kuldeep and Jadeja took complete control on a pitch offering sharp turn and bounce. Suthar made an immediate impact by striking with his very first delivery — drawing Dinesh Chandimal forward with an immaculate piece of drift and spin and catching the glove edge, with Rishabh Pant completing a sharp catch behind the stumps.

Suthar continued to press and built pressure with relentless accuracy to dismiss Lahiru Udara for 27, after he mistimed a cut off a bouncing and turning delivery to give a simple catch to backward point.

At 53/3, Sri Lanka needed a partnership to stabilise their innings, but Indian captain Shubman Gill produced a moment of brilliance in the field to dent the hosts further. Diving full length to his left at short extra cover, Gill plucked a stunning one-handed catch inches above the turf to dismiss Kamindu Mendis for 14 off Kuldeep’s bowling.

Jadeja then joined in to complete a dominant display in the first session just three minutes before the lunch break. Operating with a tight stump-to-stump line, Jadeja extracted sharp turn to catch the outside edge of Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva (21), with KL Rahul diving low at first slip to complete the catch and get another session in India’s favour.

Resuming from 99/5, Sri Lanka looked in danger of conceding a massive first-innings deficit. But Dickwella, playing a Test match after three years, and Dinusha exhibited exceptional composure on a turning pitch, including sweeping and reverse-sweeping very well, by adding 124 runs for the unbroken sixth-wicket stand, thus denying India the opportunity to put pressure on them.

Dickwella was the initial aggressor, employing the sweep shot with great effect to disrupt India’s spin rhythm. In the 32nd over, India burned a review when left-arm spinner Manav Suthar rapped Dickwella on the pads, only for the ball tracking to confirm the impact was outside off-stump.

Ravindra Jadeja similarly came close to breaking the stand in the 35th over, appealing passionately for an LBW decision against Dickwella. India reviewed once more, but the ball-tracker showed the ball bouncing over the leg stump, costing the visitors their second review. Moments later, KL Rahul put down a sharp, high-chance edge at slip off Suthar to grant Dickwella another reprieve on 20. Capitalising on the missed opportunities, the wicketkeeper-batter brought up his 23rd Test half-century and the first one in four years off 68 balls with a flicked double off Jadeja in the 46th over.

At the other end, Dinusha played a remarkably controlled knock, mixing soft-handed defence against the turning ball with calculated aggression, especially when deploying the sweep shot. In the 49th over, the youngster reached his second Test fifty off 93 balls by sweeping wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav to deep mid-wicket. He celebrated the milestone by launching Suthar over the deep mid-wicket boundary for a clean six.

‘A lot to learn from him’, Manav Suthar talks about experience of bowling with Jadeja

GALLE

Debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar has revealed that he wants to learn from the experienced Ravindra Jadeja after taking four wickets to help dismiss Sri Lanka for 284 in their first innings in the first Test at Galle International Stadium in Galle on Monday.

Suthar claimed 4-76 in 21.4 overs, which gave India a lead of 178 on first innings in Galle, and then praised veteran spinner Jadeja for his consistency and stump-to-stump bowling as the duo shared seven wickets. Jadeja claimed 3-67 in 21 overs, reaching the 350-wicket mark in the process. For Suthar, the biggest takeaway on Monday was not his four-wicket haul but the opportunity to bowl alongside Jadeja and learn from him.

“There are a lot of things that I can learn from him (Jadeja). He uses the (bowling) crease so well. His consistency while bowling at stumps is world-class. So, I would like to learn from him that no matter what the batsman is doing,” Suthar said at the end of Day 3.