Manav Suthar continued his good show for the national side as he picked up four wickets on day three of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle on Monday. He and Ravindra Jadeja shared seven wickets as the Lankans were bowled out for 284, giving India a 178-run first-inning lead.
Speaking to the media after his figures 4/76, Suthar revealed that shortly after the one-off Test against Afghanistan in June earlier this year — which was also his debut game — he had started practising with the Kookaburra ball and that helped him today in Galle. Suthar has since also played for Warwickshire in English county cricket in two red-ball games and gained some more experience as to how to bowl with different balls and in different conditions.
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The bowling allrounder who contributed an important 24 with the bat yesterday talked about his plan for the day. “Our main focus was to keep bowling consistently in the first session. In the second session, they batted well. Our main focus as a bowling group was to keep bowling in a good area. In the second session, we didn’t get the result but in the third session, we did,” Suthar said.
Sri Lanka were reduced to 90/5 at one point, but Niroshan Dickwella (80) and Sonal Dinusha (100) added 146 for the six wicket to bail them out. Eventually, the hosts managed to avoid the follow-on. Suthar acknowledged the duo’s quality batting that saw the hosts lose no wickets in the post-lunch session.
“Their partnership, Dickwella and Sonal, they batted so well. The wicket didn’t fall in the entire session. They rotated the strike very well. But our team was focused on how to create opportunities,” he said.
Shortly after the Sri Lankan innings got over, rain came again to close out the proceedings. Yesterday, for the same reason, only 43 overs could be bowled. The visitors will start their second innings on day four on Tuesday, and with such a big lead at their disposal will fancy their chances. However, this is the rainy season, and that should be a concern for Team India. If they had batted a little better and scored 50-60 runs more, they would have been better equipped to deal with the rain threats.
Be that as it may, Suthar had a great day at the office, and hopefully, he will bowl even better in the second innings. It may be noted that he picked up his first wicket of the day, that of Dinesh Chandimal, off the first ball of his first spell. “It always helps taking the wicket off your first ball, it improves your confidence for the rest of the day,” Suthar said.