Press Trust of India
Galle, August 12: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (6/46) achieved his career-best oversees figures as India bundled out hosts Sri Lanka for 183 on the first day of the first cricket Test match here Wednesday. In reply, the visitors scored 128 for two at stumps, with Shikhar Dhawan (53 batting, 103b, 6×4) and Virat Kohli (45 batting, 77b, 7×4) having already put on an unbeaten stand of 100 runs for the third wicket. The Indian batters to fall were Lokesh Rahul (7) and Rohit Sharma (9).
After pacers Ishant Sharma (1/30) and Varun Aaron (1/68) had made early inroads, it was the turn of Ashwin to get into the act. The spell, that Ashwin bowled before lunch was one his best in recent times. He bowled slow through the air and managed to extract turn and bounce to pick up the important wickets of Kumar Sangakkara (5), Lahiri Thirimanne (13) and Jehan Mubarak (0). All three dismissals had class written all over them.
Although the dismissal of Sangakkara was a fielder’s wicket with Rahul taking a very sharp catch at silly point, it was Ashwin who induced the error from the batsman. He forced the batsman to play early and Sangakkara failed to keep the hard defensive shot down with Rahul snapping up the catch.
Thirimanne’s was the classical off-spinner’s dismissal, the batsman beaten in flight and bounce as the ball turned away sharply from the left-hander to catch the edge and land into the waiting hands of Ajinkya Rahane at first slip. Mubarak was beaten by the one that came on straight with the arm and the batsman’s hard defensive jab (he should have played with softer hands) was easily gobbled up by Rahul at short-leg.
Then came a brief resurrection for the Lankans, as skipper Angelo Mathews (64, 92b, 6×4, 1×6) and Dinesh Chandimal (59, 77b, 7×4) put on 79 runs for the sixth wicket. Both attacked Ashwin and leggie Amit Mishra (2/20) and took some calculated risks which paid off. However, a moment of inspiration at short-leg by Rohit ended their resistance.
The Mumbaikar first parried a flick by Mathews into the air and then dived backwards to catch the ball on the second attempt to give Ashwin his fourth wicket of the match. The tail did not offer much resistance after that. Chandimal did hit Aaron for four boundaries in one over, but those were desperate measures.
After the early dismissal of Rahul and Rohit, both Dhawan and skipper Kohli batted with a lot of responsibility to see India through without any further losses.
