India prospered on day one, as its bowling unit shed its infamous tardiness, to shoot out Sri Lanka for 183 on day one of the first Test here on Wednesday.
After having been asked to bowl, R. Ashwin’s splendid six-wicket haul (13.4-2-46-6) and then a century stand between Virat Kohli (45 batting) and a subdued yet compact Shikhar Dhawan (53 batting), which survived a dropped catch off Dhawan and a mid-pitch mix up, placed the visitors 55 runs behind, with eight wickets remaining.
Rohit Sharma’s first serious examination at No. 3 ended in failure though. His innings of nine was coarse. He once shouldered arms, was trapped in front off a no-ball and then ultimately dismissed leg-before, all to deliveries that shaped back in.
Three spinnersIndia chose a three-pronged spin attack of Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra in addition to Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron. Ishant bowled at an impeccable length first up and the adequate movement proved the perfect add on. It was just about ideal, not too full so that the ball doesn’t have the time to do much and not too short for it to veer away and not to kiss the edge. His first spell read 7-3-7-1.
The Sri Lankan batsmen initially left the ball well, but when forced to play, the bounce in the pitch — surprising considering that it was under cover for two days — did them in.
The first two wickets were both from short balls. Ishant got Dimuth Karunaratne caught first, trying to fend off a sharp bouncer. And then Aaron, after watching Kaushal Silva dropped on four by Shikhar Dhawan, made him miscue a hook to a diving Dhawan. Replays, however, didn’t conclusively prove that the bat was involved.
Kumar Sangakkara walked in at No. 4 amid fireworks, albeit uninspiring ones. So did his innings seem, brought to an end by a superb reflex catch by K.L. Rahul at silly point off a harmless ball from Ashwin that hit the bat’s toe end. It was just the off-spinner’s third delivery; the Lankans were 27 for three and in expectation of the nearly-usual Angelo Mathews rescue-act.
Ashwin buzzed from the start. He flighted the ball, extracted sharp turn and relished the bounce in a pre-lunch spell of 6-1-15-3. There were even four catching men on the off side — two slips and two silly points. He got Lahiru Thirimanne to edge one to slip and then Jehan Mubarak to jab one to short leg.
All through this Mathews held one end up, with none of his colleagues’ travails proving contagious. But it was not until Dinesh Chandimal’s entry did he get some support. By then though, India was clearly on top, reducing Sri Lanka to 60 for five.
Indecisive phaseIt was then that captain Kohli seemed a tad indecisive. While early on he had followed the ball with a couple of fielding changes — like when an edge flew past a diving Ajinkya Rahane at gully, he brought in a second gully — his decision not to get Ashwin on straight after lunch was surprising.
It took five overs for Ashwin to be introduced and even that not from the pavilion end from where he was bowling beautifully. Another seven overs passed before that could happen and the offie struck in his second over removing Mathews caught at short-leg for 64.
In between, Mathews and Chandimal had stitched together a 79-run partnership at almost four an over.
Mathews looked like he was batting on a different pitch, pulling with ease and even hoisting Harbhajan Singh over long-on to bring up his half-century.
Chandimal, on the other hand, lived dangerously — beaten outside the off by both Ishant and Aaron, squared up by Harbhajan that bordered on ugliness, dropped once by Saha on five and surviving a run out chance by Dhawan.
He then carted Aaron for four fours in an over, sending the paceman’s economy rate soaring over six — an unpardonable act of profligacy amidst all-round prudence.
From 155 for six, Sri Lanka lost its last four for 28 runs — Mishra taking two in two balls and Ashwin finishing with six. But not before Rangana Herath swept his way — and reverse swept — to a 23.
Chandimal was surprised at the way the pitch behaved and said, “We haven’t seen turn like this at Galle on day one. The turn we had here was the kind you normally get on the fourth or fifth day.” It just about summed up the Sri Lankans’ mood.
