GALLE: India wrapped up the first cricket Test against Sri Lanka by 165 runs, 39 minutes after lunch on the fifth and final day at the Galle International Cricket Stadium yesterday to go one-up in the two-match Test series.
The win was even sweeter for India for it came in their 600th Test match.
The writing was on the wall for Sri Lanka after they lost their first four wickets for 47 runs chasing a tall target of 372 and were eventually bowled out for 206. Manav Suthar, with a classical left-arm spinner’s action despite being the most junior of the three spinners India played in the Test, out bowled the other two – Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav – to finish with ten wickets in the match, which included 6/55 in Sri Lanka’s second innings.
That the match dragged onto the second session was mainly due to a gritty 95-run partnership between Dhananjaya de Silva and Sonal Dinusha. Jadeja, who thought that he had dismissed De Silva early in his innings only to discover that it was a no-ball, found his redemption by dismissing the Lankan captain for 59 (151 balls, 7 fours) to break the threatening partnership.
Niroshan Dickwella who played a plucky knock of 80 in the first innings in his return to Test cricket seemed distracted by Yashashvi Jaiswal’s words (goading him to hit a six that he will take him to play in the IPL) and fell to Prasidh Khrishna for 10. Dinusha fought a lone battle and found support from debutant Kheshara Nuwantha with whom he added 43 for the seventh wicket. But once Suthar ended Dinusha’s fighting innings of 84 of 128 balls (8 fours, 1 six) at 199 there was hardly any resistance coming from the rest of the batters. Suthar picked up four wickets within a span of 10 deliveries which included three in one over to bring a swift end to the Lankan innings and the match.
India’s biggest positives were their two left-handers – Devdutt Padikkal and Suthar. In his comeback Test, Padikkal batted almost faultlessly in both the innings (167 and 44) to take the Player of the Match award.
From Sri Lanka’s point there were a couple of positives too. The two 25-year-olds – Keshara Nuwantha and Sonal Dinusha. The off-spinner bowled with a lot of spirit after a tough opening day and Dinusha was easily Sri Lanka’s best batter in both the innings with 100 and 84.
Sri Lanka have now gone 11 consecutive Tests without a win against India, including 9 losses. Although India were in a dominant position throughout the Test, a good duel was witnessed between bat and ball over the five days.
The second Test begins at the SSC grounds on 23 August.