Galle: Backed by Rishabh Pant’s quintessential 66, India’s bowlers displayed ruthless efficiency to reduce Sri Lanka to 84 for four at stumps on the fourth day as the visitors positioned themselves for a massive victory in the first Test here Tuesday.
Pant, Devdutt Padikkal (44) and KL Rahul (35) pulled in their combined weight to take India to 193 in their second innings, raising an improbable target of 372 in front of Sri Lanka, who are still 288 runs away from that mark.
For the hosts, skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (31) and first-innings century-maker Sonal Dinusha (25) were manning the crease at close.
For a better understanding of the huge mountain in front of Sri Lanka, the highest ever successful chase in Test cricket at the Galle stadium is 344 by Pakistan in 2022, and a 200-plus target was surmounted only twice at this venue since 1998.
The weight of that unfavourable history on them was so evident when the Lankans came out to bat in the fourth innings after a brief rain delay.
They looked cagey, and the first wicket did not take too long to come.
Mohammed Siraj hurried Nishan Fernando into a pull, and the latter could not control the shot, which was taken in the deep by Prasidh Krishna.
Prasidh himself had a moment of joy soon when he ousted Kamindu Mendis.
After setting Mendis up with three incoming deliveries, Prasidh served one that went away and the left-hander nibbled it to Rahul in the cordon.
Between those two strikes, left-arm spinner Manav Suthar dislodged Pasindu Sooriyabandara, who came in as a concussion substitute for Dinesh Chandimal.
Chandimal sustained an injury while fielding during the first session of the day, hitting his shoulder and head hard on the ground.
Chandimal was cleared of any injury in the subsequent scan, but could not clear the concussion test.
However, that chancy entry into Test cricket lasted just one ball, as Sooriyabandara was trapped leg before by Suthar, who later added the wicket of Lahiru Udara to his burgeoning kitty.
Earlier, the Lankan bowlers were suitably rewarded with regular wickets for using the pitch and conditions to good effect.
But Padikkal first and Pant later ensured that there would not be too many jitters in the Indian camp.
Pant twisted, turned, twirled and fell down while executing his shots in typical Pant-style to reach a 53-ball fifty.
The left-hander reached the little landmark with a six off pacer Lahiru Kumara, and he added 54 runs for the sixth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja. It was also his 100th six in Test cricket, and he became the first Indian and the quickest batter to achieve that feat.
If anyone was ever in doubt over Pant’s place in the Test side, this knock would give them evidence of the left-hander’s value in the red-ball format.
However, Pant’s adventures ended with a snick to stumper Niroshan Dickwella off Kumara.
Before that, Padikkal, who made a 167 in the first innings, looked in perfect touch again.
The left-hander swept and cut spinners at will, giving India some valuable runs to break away from the home side.
A straight punch off off-spinner Keshara Nuwantha was the standout shot of his innings, as Padikkal showed the penchant to put away even good balls.
But the Karnataka man eventually fell to a zipping ball from off-spinner Keshara Nuwantha that pinned him to the back foot. Padikkal did resort to DRS but to no avail.
However, India’s second innings had a shaky start as a laden-footed Yashasvi Jaiswal edged pacer Asitha Fernando to Dickwella in the first over itself.
Jaiswal, now largely a one-format player, will have to find a way to register some serious runs under his belt before the patience of bigwigs wears thin.
He has just one fifty in the last eight Test innings, and that is too lean for an opener assigned to give his team a solid start.
Rahul looked solid as ever and even added a dash of aggression to his innings, clobbering Prabath Jayasuriya for two sixes – one over long off and another to the sight screen.
But Rahul, who escaped from a leg-before decision through DRS on 25, perished to Jayasuriya after adding 65 runs for the second wicket with Padikkal.
Shubman Gill too did not last long, falling leg before to Jayasuriya, and the Indian skipper will certainly take a hard look at his game against spin on abrasive surfaces ahead of the second Test.
Thereafter India lost a bunch of wickets towards the end of their innings, but it hardly mattered in the eventual outcome.
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