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Mendis, Karunaratne keep SL afloat

By The Assam Tribune

COLOMBO, Aug 5: Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne dominated the third session as Sri Lanka posted 209/2 in their second innings to trail by 230 runs after being forced to follow on by India at the end of the third day of the second Test here on Saturday.

Mendis scored 110 runs before medium-pacer Hardik Pandya dismissed him at the fag end of the day�s play, thanks to an excellent diving effort by wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha. Mendis hit 17 boundaries over the course of his 135-ball innings.

His partnership of 191 runs with Karunaratne helped steady the Lankan innings after the early dismissal of opener Upul Tharanga.

Karunaratne was batting on 92 at stumps with Malinda Pushpakumara on 2 at the other end. Karunaratne�s unbeaten knock off 200 balls was laced with 12 boundaries.

For India, Pandya returned figures of 1/12.

The hosts had been dismissed for 183 in their first innings, handing the Indians a lead of 439.

With Indian captain Virat Kohli deciding to enforce the follow on, the Lankans started their second innings after lunch and straight away ran into trouble.

Umesh Yadav tasted success in the third over of the innings when Tharanga was beaten by an incoming delivery that rattled the stumps. Yadav had figures of 1/29 in his nine overs by the end of the day.

Karunaratne was batting comfortably, dispatching the ball to the boundary at regular intervals.

Mendis on the other hand, started a bit shakily, and was lucky to survive when a diving Shikhar Dhawan was unable to hold on to a catch at mid-on off Ravichandran Ashwin�s bowling.

The right-hander however, soon settled down and started to find the gaps regularly, hitting boundaries off two consecutive deliveries during Ashwin�s next over.

Earlier, Ashwin clinched a five-wicket haul as the Lankans were bowled for 183 runs in the first innings to hand India a massive lead of 439 runs at lunch.

Ashwin ended up with figures of 5/69 in 16.4 overs. Fast bowler Mohammed Shami bowled superbly for figures of 2/13 while left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja returned 2/84. Umesh Yadav also bagged a wicket. � IANS

Scorecard

India (first innings): 622/9 declared.

Sri Lanka (first innings): Karunaratne c Rahane b Ashwin 25,

Tharanga c Rahul b Ashwin 0, Mendis c Kohli b Umesh 24, Chandimal c Pandya b Jadeja 10, Mathews c Pujara b Ashwin 26, Dickwella b Shami 51, De Silva b Jadeja 0, Dilruwan b Ashwin 25, Herath b Shami 2, Pushpakumara not out 15, Pradeep b Ashwin 0. Fall of Wickets: 0-1, 33-2, 60-3, 64-4, 117-5, 122-6, 150-7, 152-8, 171-9, 183-10. Total: (all out in 49.4 overs) 183. Bowling: Shami 6-1-13-2, Ashwin 16.4-3-69-5, Jadeja 22-6-84-2, Yadav 5-1-12-1.

Sri Lanka (second innings): Karunaratne batting 92, Tharanga b Umesh 2, Mendis c Saha b Pandya 110, Pushpakumara batting 2. Fall of wickets: 7-1, 198-2. Total: (for 2 wkts in 60 overs) 209. Bowling: Yadav 9-2-29-1, Ashwin 24-6-79-0, Shami 6-21-3-0, Jadeja 16-2-76-0, Pandya 5-0-12-1.

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