Reuters
Galle, August 16: Rangana Herath (7/48) displayed sublime left-arm spin bowling to power Sri Lanka to a spectacular comeback win by 63 runs against India on the fourth day of the opening Test here Saturday.
Trailing for most of the match after being all out on the opening day for 183, the hosts scythed through the Indian order with 37-year-old Herath adding six wickets to his overnight dismissal of opening batsman KL Rahul for his 22nd five-wicket haul in Tests.
Off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal (3/47) provided superb support to his senior pro in the second innings as India after resuming on 23 for one, were shot out for 112 an hour after lunch.
Ajinkya Rahane (36, 76b, 4×4) was the only visiting batsman to provide some resistance but India’s hopes of victory faded when he fell to Herath, edging the wily spinner to Angelo Mathews at slip.
“What an absolute turnaround it was,” Mathews said at the presentation ceremony. “I thought Chandimal was outstanding. He single-handedly got us a fighting score.”
“We were down and out for past three and half days and we had to give it our best shot,” he added.
The hosts, who lost their last test series at home to Pakistan, put immense pressure on India with tight bowling and some smart catches in the first session Saturday.
The tourists failed to find scoring opportunities, with first-innings centurion Shikhar Dhawan, unbeaten on 13 overnight, taking 36 balls to score his first run of the morning.
Herath, who has been off form lately and went wicketless in the first innings, struck with his first ball of the day, sending night watchman Ishant Sharma out leg before.
He also accounted for the wickets of Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Harbhajan Singh and Ravi Ashwin, while Kaushal picked up Indian captain Virat Kohli and then took a sharp return catch to send back Dhawan.
Amit Mishra was the final man out to Kaushal, sparking wild celebrations in the Lankan camp.
“We got no one or nothing to blame but ourselves,” Kohli said. “We failed to capitalise on taking the first five wickets (in the second innings).
“We should have finished the game off in that particular session. One bad session and things can turn around totally. Credit to Rangana the way he bowled today (Saturday). I think he’s a world-class bowler,” he added.
