India renewed their charge for the World Test Championship final, beating Sri Lanka by 165 runs in the opening Test at Galle. Ravindra Jadeja (1/71) broke through a staunch Sri Lankan defence, with the hosts spending the majority of the morning nullifying India’s spinners on Day 5 of the Test.
India arrived in Sri Lanka with big questions over their credentials against spin. They had lost to New Zealand and South Africa at home in back-to-back years, raising questions over the team’s ability to play and bowl spin.
SL vs IND, 1st Test Day 5: Highlights
Those doubts will thankfully be allayed for a while, as the Shubman Gill-led side began their two-Test series in style in tricky conditions in Sri Lanka.
Having set a target of 372 runs in the final innings, India arrived at Day 5 in Galle needing six wickets to win the Test. Rain threatened India’s charge, so the team knew it needed some quick wickets in the morning session.
However, that was far from possible as Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva and young all-rounder Sonal Dinusha dug deep in the morning session. De Silva blocked and cut effectively, hitting Jadeja for boundaries, while Dinusha swept the ball with disdain to keep the Indian spinners at bay.
GAMBHIR BREAKS THE GAME
With absolutely nothing happening in the middle, India head coach Gautam Gambhir called Ravindra Jadeja in for a chat, changed his end, changed his angles and asked him to bowl again. The move worked.
Sri Lanka captain de Silva, who had been blocking with ease, eventually got rattled by Jadeja’s constant attack on the stumps and top-edged his paddle sweep, resulting in the first wicket of the day and breaking a 95-run stand between the captain and the bowling all-rounder.
India doubled down on the wicket, dismissing Niroshan Dickwella just before lunch. Dickwella, brought back into international cricket, was expected to build on the effort by his captain but ended up getting rage-baited by Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was constantly asking him to hit the bowlers for six.
Dickwella lost his head, tried to attack Prasidh Krishna and ended up edging his cut shot to the wicketkeeper.
The Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batter’s wicket, after he had put together a 146-run partnership with Dinusha in the first innings, turned out to be gold dust for India, who found belief that they could win the game.
DINUSHA RESISTS, BUT SUTHAR WRECKS SL
Dinusha’s terrific resistance, during which he scored 84 runs off 128 balls, came to an end in the 76th over of the innings, a little after lunch.
Dinusha, who had mastered batting on the turning surface, ended up falling to a soft dismissal against Manav Suthar.
Suthar, bowling his left-arm spin from round the wicket, had the batter caught at leg slip. It was an anticlimactic end for a batter who had played exceptionally in both innings of the match, aggregating 184 runs in the Galle Test.
Once Suthar broke through, it was a free fall for Sri Lanka, who ended up losing Prabath Jayasuriya and Lahiru Kumara in the same over. Prabath was clean bowled after playing the wrong line, while Lahiru was caught behind by the wicketkeeper and opted not to review the decision.
The wicket of Lahiru Kumara was Suthar’s fifth in the innings, giving him his second five-wicket haul in two Test matches.
Eventually, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 206 in the second session of the final day of the opening Test.
More to follow…
– Ends
