Sri Lanka off to shaky start

Hardik Pandya starred with the bat on debut, propelling India to 600 before pacer Umesh Yadav provided the early breakthrough to leave Sri Lanka at 38 for one at tea on day two of the first Test here.

India, starting the afternoon session at 503 for seven, added 97 to their first innings score before being bowled out.

Pandya (50 off 49 balls) and Mohammad Shami (30 off 30) added 62 runs for the ninth wicket to help India reach the 600-run mark.

Umesh Yadav struck early in the Sri Lankan innings, trapping opener Dimuth Karunaratne in front of the stumps. The hosts trail India by 562 runs.

Karunaratne ended up wasting a DRS review in a bid to reverse a plumb decision. At the other end, Mohammed Shami (0 -19) was sharp with the new ball too. Upul Tharanga (24*) struck four crisp boundaries before the break, while Danushka Gunathilaka (12*) gave him company.

Earlier, Pandya smashed five fours and three sixes to help India post a mammoth total. He added only 14 runs with Ravindra Jadeja (15) after lunch before the latter was clean bowled by Nuwan Pradeep (6-132).

Pandya, on 4, was dropped at first slip off Rangana Herath (1-159) in the 119th over. But thereafter he didn’t give any chances to the opposition, unleashing his full array of strokes as he sped to his half-century.

Shami gave him optimal company as the duo attacked the Lankan bowling.

Pandya was the last man out, after he reached his maiden Test half-century off 48 balls, whilst bringing up India’s 600 in the 134th over.

In the morning, Pradeep took his maiden five-wicket haul in Tests as India reached 503/7 at lunch after losing four wickets for 104 runs.

Starting from an overnight 399/3, India crossed the 400 -mark on the first ball of day two. Cheteshwar Pujara (153 runs, 265 balls, 13 fours) and Ajinkya Rahane (57 runs, 130 balls, 3 fours) looked to continue their overnight partnership, and were batting fluently.

Pujara had a DRS decision for caught behind turned down off Herath in the third over of the day.

He crossed 150 off 257 balls, inclusive of 13 fours, and matched his previous Test best of 153 runs against South Africa at Johannesburg in 2013. He also went past his best Test score of 145* in Sri Lanka, scored at the SSC back in 2015.

Meanwhile, Rahane scored his 12th Test half-century off 118 balls.

Pujara was finally out caught behind off Pradeep in the 98th over. It started the slide for India as Rahane was caught at slip four overs later off Kumara. Surprisingly, Ravichandran Ashwin (47 runs, 60 balls, 7 fours) and Wriddhiman Saha (16) both came out to bat ahead of debutant Pandya.

The experienced duo managed to put the brakes on Sri Lanka’s attempt at getting into the tail quickly. Even so, the hosts put on a much-improved bowling performance from day one.

But for India’s overnight advantage, it would have put this match in an interesting balance.

Ashwin-Saha though maintained India’s hold over proceedings as they added 50 runs in 67 balls. Overall, they put on 59 runs for the sixth wicket before Saha holed out to mid-on off stand-in skipper Herath to give him his first wicket in the game.

Just before lunch, Ashwin was caught behind off Pradeep as well, the bowler going past his previous Test best of 4-62 against India at the SSC in 2015.