COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Devdutt Padikkal scored his second test century and shared two crucial partnerships to help India to 300-5 at stumps on the opening day of the second cricket test against Sri Lanka on Sunday.
Continuing his top form from the first match when he scored 167 runs in the first innings to set up a big win, Padikkal made 117 off 193 deliveries. He spent nearly five hours at the crease and hit 12 boundaries.
He got reprieves as soon as he came to bat when Sonal Dinusha at covers and captain Dhananjaya de Silva at slip dropped two sharp catches. From there he batted with concentration, sharing 120 runs for the third wicket with captain Shubman Gill and 74 runs for the fourth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja, before being bowled by off-spinner Keshara Nuwantha.
Gill was out for 50, his ninth test half-century, when he edged fast bowler Asitha Fernando to wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella.
Rishabh Pant, who came in to bat at No. 5 when Gill fell, was retired hurt when he went across to pull fast bowler Lahiru Kumara only to take a hit on his forearm.
Sri Lanka took the second new ball after 80 overs and saw quick results when Fernando bowled Ravindra Jadeja (43) with an inswinger that the left-handed batter misjudged and attempted to leave.
India went to lunch at 88-2 with Padikkal and Gill trying to steady the innings after India lost two wickets for 66 runs after Gill had won the toss and elected to bat first on a good batting pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
.Opening batters Yashaswi Jaiswal and KL Rahul added 37 runs for the first wicket before Rahul (18) slashed at a wider delivery from Kumara for a catch to Dickwella. Jaishwal (45) was bowled by a sharp inswinger from Fernando, leaving India at 66-2.
Fernando had the best bowling figures for Sri Lanka with 3-46 as Kumara and Nuwantha picked up a wicket each.’
Sri Lanka’s bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk was pleased with his team’s bowling effort.
“I thought we fought really well today, fought hard,” he said. “The fast bowlers kept running in. When you pick two fast bowlers, the expectation is that they’ve got to keep coming back and bowling spells. They had very clear plans that they were trying to execute, they bowled with great aggression, they kept their speeds up all day.
“I think with Rishabh being 50-50 at the moment, we’ll see where that sits. But potentially effectively six down, so we’ll see in the morning. But we’ve still got a new ball in the morning to use and hopefully fairly fresh Asitha and Lahiru to start the day.”
India leads the two-match series after defeating Sri Lanka by 165 runs in the first match in Galle.
Sri Lanka recalled Pasindu Sooriyabandara for his first full test after he replaced the injured Dinesh Chandimal as a concussion substitute in the series opener.
With Chandimal still unavailable, Sooriyabandara retained his place for the second test, which Sri Lanka must win to level the series.
Opener Nishan Madushka has also been replaced by Kamil Mishara who makes his test debut.
India have left out left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav for spin-bowling allrounder Saransh Jain, who is also playing in his first test.
He has scored 2,223 runs and 188 wickets in first-class matches.
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