MUMBAI: A fascinating aspect of Test cricket is observing teams devise the right strategy. For most of Day 3 of the second Test between hosts Sri Lanka and India at Colombo’s Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, this particular facet kept coming to the fore.
When hosts Sri Lanka resumed their first innings on Wednesday, it was interesting to watch the way they went about targeting the Indian spinners, especially Manav Suthar.
The left-arm spinner had dismantled the home team at Galle with a 10-wicket match haul and he likes to flight the ball. If batters allow him to do that, he will create problems with his subtle variations in trajectory. So, this time, they attacked and put him off his line and length.
However, the home side didn’t account for the threat posed by Indian pacer Prasidh Krishna. The visitors outwitted them in that aspect.
Having seen Sri Lankan pacer Asitha Fernando effectively use the short ball, India employed the same tactics with success. While the batters focused on negating the spin threat, Prasidh proved to be the surprise weapon, striking two timely blows in the opening session; both wickets came off short balls.
Earlier, the pacer started the innings with a wicket on his second ball, opener Lahiru Udara caught in the slip, to finish with three for 47 off 14 overs.
The spinners also showed improvement in the second session, picking wickets at regular intervals to have Sri Lanka down at 265/8 in their first innings. Chasing India’s total of 503/9 declared, they trail by 238 runs, needing another 39 runs to avoid follow-on.
For Sri Lanka, two young batters, 25-year-old Dinusha Sonal and 26-year-old Pasindu Sooriyabandara stood out for their quality play. Dinusha made an unbeaten 85 (6 fours, 2 sixes) and Sooriyabandara hit a solid 80 (9 fours).
Sooriyabandara, who was playing only his second Test, batted superbly in the morning session coming in at No 4. Having fallen for a duck on his debut at Galle, he seemed to have extra time to play the ball while at the crease. He looked good for a hundred when he fell to a soft dismissal, getting an inside edge off Ravindra Jadeja which deflected off his pad onto the stump.
Left-hand batter Dinusha is the big takeaway from the series for the hosts. It was his third successive 50-plus score, after making 100 and 84 in Galle. Coming in at No 7, the stocky left-hand batter was untroubled by pace or spin, showing excellent temperament while batting with the tail.
Prasidh shines
When Prasidh started the day’s proceedings, it became evident the Indian bowlers were in for a fight. Opener Kamil Mishara and Pasindu Sooriyabandara came out with an intent to seize back the initiative. His first over went for 12, the next for five runs and third for four. The fast bowler could not build any pressure. With the wicket offering little assistance to the pacers, the captain was in a fix.
That is when Prasidh got his act together. The tall fast bowler found success when he went round the wicket to attack the left-handed Mishara with the short ball. Bowling an excellent fourth over, on the third ball he produced the extra bounce to have Mishara (19 runs) caught behind off the gloves for India’s third wicket.
Later, when India searched for a breakthrough against the 87-run fourth wicket partnership between Sooriyabandara and Kamindu Mendis, Gill once again turned to Prasidh at the stroke of lunch. The short ball did the trick again, and Prasidh had Kamindu caught at midwicket off a miscued pull-shot.
The wickets were crucial for India to put the pressure on the home team after they had successfully targeted India’s new spin weapon Suthar in the morning session.
Sooriyabandara and Kamindu, were proactive against spin, and didn’t allow the young spinner to settle into any sort of rhythm. In the left-arm spinner’s fourth over, left-handed Kamindu hit him for a four and a three, before Sooriyabandara nailed a sweep now, to take 11 runs and leave him with figures of 4-0-29-1. Suthar’s fifth over cost six runs for figures of 5-0-35-1.
At that point, Sri Lanka had eased to 112/3 after 27 overs. With the wicket of Mendis, Prasidh reduced the hosts to 122/4 after 30 overs.
In the post lunch session, bowling in tandem with Prasidh, Suthar also came up with a better bowling plan, keeping it in and around off stump. In his second over of the spell, he produced a peach to dismiss skipper Dhananjaya de Silva, caught at first slip. He also picked the wicket of Keshara Nuwantha to finish with three for 83. However, after reducing Sri Lanka to 173/7, the bowlers—including off-spinner Saransh Jain, who went wicketless in 18 overs in a tough debut—will be a tad disappointed that they were not able to wipe out the tail, taking just one wicket in the last 38 overs.