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Cricket PlayersIndia vs SL: Spinners take eight as India wrest 178-run lead
India leads Sri Lanka by 178 runs after their first innings, but weather may disrupt the match. Quick runs are essential for a solid declaration.
Kolkata: India had Sri Lanka exactly where they wanted them. At 90 for five, the first innings looked destined to become an exercise in damage limitation. Having exposed Sri Lanka’s top order, India’s spinners were extracting extravagant turn and the match appeared to be moving rapidly in the visitors’ direction.
Then Niroshan Dickwella and Sonal Dinusha changed the shape of the Test. Sri Lanka were eventually dismissed for 284, giving India a first-innings lead of 178. It remains a substantial advantage, but it could have been considerably larger.
The 146-run partnership between Dickwella and Dinusha—who hit his maiden Test ton—ensured that India were denied the kind of lead that might have allowed them to dictate the final two days without worrying too much about the clock. But with the weather in Galle remaining on edge, time will be of the essence from now.
Deep Dive
India need to turn their advantage into pressure quickly. There is little value in simply extending the lead if, by the time they declare, they leave themselves too few overs to take 10 wickets.
For much of Sri Lanka’s first innings, however, this was a demonstration of India’s bowling superiority. Mohammad Siraj opened the account with only the second ball, removing Nishan Madushka Fernando with a delivery that swung away. Manav Suthar then took over, striking twice in his early spell to remove Lahiru Udara and Dinesh Chandimal.
Kuldeep Yadav joined in by dismissing Kamindu Mendis, thanks to a superb one-handed catch by Gill at extra cover, before Ravindra Jadeja accounted for Dhananjaya de Silva. At 90 for five, Sri Lanka were in trouble and India’s spinners were beginning to dictate terms.
Suthar eventually finished with four for 76, while Jadeja took three for 57, crossing the 350-wicket mark in the process. That meant the three spinners shared eight wickets between them, Siraj and Prasidh Krishna accounting for the other two.
The figures behind those wickets were just as striking. Suthar’s deliveries turned more than 4.5 degrees 74% of the time, an extraordinary indication of how much the surface was offering him.
Jadeja managed the same with 58.2% of his deliveries and Kuldeep with 50%.
The Indian spinners were also disciplined about where they bowled. Of the 229 balls delivered in the good-length zone, between three and five metres, they conceded only seven wickets and operated at an economy rate of 2.88. The intention was clear—make the Sri Lankan batters play and wait for the surface to do the rest.
It worked beautifully against Sri Lanka’s first five wickets. What India couldn’t perhaps anticipate was the resistance that followed.
Dickwella came in with Sri Lanka under considerable pressure and played the innings required of him. There was fortune along the way, but there was also intent. His 80 from 115 balls contained seven fours and helped change the tempo of the innings. At the other end, Dinusha provided the stability that Dickwella could exploit.
His hundred was a remarkably mature innings in the circumstances. Dinusha took 168 balls to reach 100, resisting the temptation to chase runs when the situation demanded survival. His four fours and two sixes were almost incidental to the greater achievement of keeping the innings alive. Together, the pair added 146 while denying India the chance to bowl at a vulnerable tail with Sri Lanka still below the follow-on mark. When Dickwella finally fell for 80, Sri Lanka were 236 for six.
The rest of the innings disappeared quickly enough. Jadeja removed Keshara Nuwantha in a freak dismissal and Suthar accounted for Prabath Jayasuriya and Lahiru Kumara. But Dinusha’s hundred had already ensured that Sri Lanka had crossed the follow-on target. India were left with a lead of 178 rather than the potentially match-defining advantage that had seemed likely at 90 for five.
Yet there is no reason for India to regard the position as anything other than favourable. Their bowlers have shown that Sri Lanka’s batting can be breached.
More importantly, the surface appears to be offering the sort of assistance that should make a fourth-innings chase uncomfortable.
Seven wickets to the two left-arm orthodox spinners is strong evidence that India have the attack best equipped to exploit what comes next. What they are up against though is time.
Galle Tests have a habit of becoming negotiations with the weather. Clouds can gather, rain can interrupt and lost overs can turn a seemingly comfortable position into a race against the final session.
India therefore need to resist the temptation to bat themselves into an impregnable position. They need runs, but they need them quickly. A lead of 350 may be enough, 400 could be better. But a declaration that comes too late, with only a handful of sessions remaining, could leave India staring at a familiar Test-match frustration of having been the better side without having enough time to prove it.
