Sri Lankan lower order batters did not last longer than half an hour on Day 2 of the pink-ball Test as they were bundled out for 109, their second-lowest Test score against India. Sri Lanka could add only 23 runs for the loss of four wickets as Jasprit Bumrah registered his first fifer on Indian soil. India took a 143-run lead after an ordinary batting display by the visitors.
Sri Lanka started the day at 86/6 in 30 overs. Niroshan Dickwella started in style with a couple of boundaries against Bumrah. In his next over, Bumrah banged one short and Lasith Embuldeniya had not control over the pull shot as he handed an easy one to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Playing in his farewell Test, Suranga Lakmal got a boundary off Ravichandran Ashwin but the carrom ball got the better of him. Lakmal became Ashwin’s first victim of the day. Two balls later, Dickwella was surprised by Bumrah's bouncer as Pant took another easy catch behind the stumps. Bumrah's 5/24 is now also the best bowling performance by an Indian seamer in Test cricket.
In the end, Vishwa Fernando tried to get some quick runs off Ashwin to reduce the deficit but he was lured forward by the off-spinner and ended up losing his balance long enough for Pant to remove the bails.
Earlier, Sri Lanka's top order collapsed as they could score only 14 runs against Indian pacers Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Veteran all-rounder Angelo Mathews showed some home as he scored 43 runs from 85 deliveries. But Bumrah came back into the attack and got rid of him. Mathews struck three fours and two sixes in the innings.
On Day 1, India posted 252 on the board with the help of Shreyas Iyer's counter-attacking 92. On a tough pitch that favoured spinners from the first session, Mayank Agarwal got run out after a mix-up with skipper Rohit Sharma. The Mumbai-opener Rohit did not last long either at the crease. Hanuma Vihari and Virat Kohli got starts but could not covert them into big scores. Seeing the nature of the pitch, Pant took the ultra aggressive approach and scored 39 runs from 26 deliveries.
Iyer batted with the lower middle-order batters and tailenders and scored bulk of his runs through boundaries. From 98 deliveries, Iyer scored 92 runs including 10 fours and four sixes. He missed his second Test ton in an attempt to play a big shot off spinner Praveen Jayawickrama.
