SL v India, 1st Test, Day 3 as it happened: Kohli, Mukund help India extend lead to 498 runs

India continued their dominance on the third day as they extended their lead over Sri Lanka to 498 runs in the first Test in Galle.

India’s second innings charge was led by skipper Virat Kohli (76) and Abhinav Mukund (81) who shared a 133-run stand for the third wicket. The stand was broken only in the final over of the day after the latter was found LBW off Danushka Gunathilaka.

The duo batted superbly in a rain-marred day. Sri Lanka’s bowlers found little juice from a wicket that seemed to have dried up in the morning.

Sri Lanka’s batsmen had done well in the morning to stretch their first innings total to 291 after having lost their top-order on Day 2. Their bowlers showed some fire in the first of Day 3 by scalping the wickets of first innings centurions Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara.

Kohli and Mukund, though, shut the hosts out completely and helped their side to a massive lead.

As it happened:

06:00 pm: WICKET! Mukund falls for 81 in the final over of the day. Gunathilaka traps him plumb in front. India ask for a review, but it stays in favour of the hosts.
India 189/3 (46.3 overs) at stumps. Their lead stands at a mammoth 498 runs. Kohli remains unbeaten on 76.

5:55 pm: India 186/2 after 45 overs. Kohli (74*) and Mukund (79*).
Three overs left in the day and Sri Lanka have now begun bowling a negative line to Kohli. Both batsmen are negotiating the phase well. The lead is not five runs short of 500.

5:45 pm: India 163/2 after 40 overs. Kohli (69*) and Mukund (65*).
India are coasting along well here. Further blow for Sri Lanka. Rangana Herath has walked off the ground after hurting his fingers in the field.

5:35 pm: India 163/2 after 40 overs. Kohli (69*) and Mukund (65*).
India are coasting along well here. Further blow for Sri Lanka. Rangana Herath has walked off the ground after hurting his fingers in the field. India’s lead is now 472 runs. How long do you think India will keep batting?

5:20 pm: 150 up for India after 37 overs. Kohli (67*) and Mukund (62*) have now added 102 runs for the third wicket.
Kohli, Mukund have completely shut out the Sri Lankan bowlers. Both are rotating the strike well and peppering them with boundaries regularly. India’s lead has swelled to 467 runs.

05:00 pm: Now Kohli brings up his half-century. India 136/2 in 34 overs. (Kohli 52*, Mukund 55*)
Kohli in complete control here. He’s leading from the front. His presence seems to have helped Mukund pace his innings well at the other end. Their partnership has all but shut out Sri Lanka out of this match.

04:45 pm: 50 up for Abhinav Mukund. India 120/2 in 27 overs. (Kohli 40*, Mukund 51*)
Mukund brings up his second half-century in Tests. This is Mukund’s first fifty in five years. Solid comeback so far for the Tamil Nadu batsman.

04:30 pm: 50 run partnership up for Kohli and Mukund. India 108/2 in 27 overs. (Kohli 37*, Mukund 42*)
Kohli-Mukund making it look too easy now. They are scoring at 6 runs an over since resumption of play. Sri Lanka struggling to find a breakthrough.

04:27 pm: 100 up! India 105/2 in 25 overs. (Kohli 35*, Mukund 41*)
India take score past 100 in their second innings. Kohli timing the ball exquisitely now. Two boundaries from back to back deliveries off Pradeep. India’s lead surges to 413 runs.

04:18 pm: India 92/2 in 23 overs. (Kohli 23*, Mukund 40*)
India extend lead to 400 as Kohli, Mukund settle down. Both batsmen are batting positively and getting at least one boundary every over. India now lead by 401 runs.

04:05 pm: India 76/2 in 20 overs. (Kohli 13*, Mukund 34*)
Kohli, Mukund hand India solid start after resumption of play. Kohli needs all the runs he can accrue at the moment. India comfortably placed in the game though. The lead is now 385 runs.

03:55 pm: The players are back on the field. Kohli smashes Kumara for a boundary off the first delivery. India 60/2 in 17 overs. The lead is now 369 runs. (Kohli 4*, Mukund 28*).

03:50 pm: Play will resume at 03:55 pm. Play can be stretched till 06:00 pm.

03:30 pm: Rain has stopped and covers are coming off. Next inspection at 03.45 pm.

03:15 pm: It is drizzling again. Covers are back on. Inspection has been delayed.

03:00 pm: Few of the covers are being taken off. Inspection at 03.15pm.
As you wait, please read this piece analysing Hardik Pandya’s impact on India’s Test team.

02:50 pm: Update from Galle. (Still so pretty, though, that backdrop!)

02:30 pm: The rain is back again, the covers are still on.

02:10 pm: OUT goes Pujara, in comes the rain! PLAY STOPPED. Kumara bowls to his field, angling into Pujara’s pad, he flicks it casually but there is a short-fine leg (at a catching position) waiting and he takes it in the second attempt.

Bad news, folks! (Or is it good news? Can’t really tell.) It’s raining in Galle. A downpour. You could see it coming from a distance – it got Gavaskar excited. “It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming,” he went, at a high pitch voice.

In his analysis of day 2, Chetan Narula wrote this from Galle. One gets the feeling it’s going to this way throughout the series:

Challenge is the epitome of international sport. Ask any current or retired athlete, and his favourite contest would be the one where he was tested the most. Maybe he/she won that particular event, maybe not. But if there was enough to spur them on throughout its duration, fight the doubts within and endure, it would make for an everlasting memory.

Sadly, for the Indian team, this first Test against Sri Lanka doesn’t belong in that category.

— Chetan Narula, writing for The Field.

01:50 pm: India 44/1, lead by 353 runs. A few indications there that the pitch is deteriorating, with the ball keeping low just outside the right hander’s off stump. India would love that. Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar is having one of those inexplicable on-air musings – ‘Mukund speaks Tamil, Pujara speaks Gujarati, but both know English’ so on and so forth.

What a beautiful setting to play cricket, though!

01:30 pm: After 8 overs, India 31/1. Not much to report, folks. Even the commentators seem to be chilling, for the most part. This match has all the excitement of paint on a wall drying. Pujara has just started where he left off in the first innings. Nuwan Pradeep, to his credit, has kept at it yet again – bowled a brilliant away swinger that beat Pujara’s bat.

01:15 pm: WICKET. Dhawan, what have you done! It’s a short ball outside off-stump, the ball sticks to the wicket, turns a bit but it could have been hit ANYWHERE. But fortunately for Dilruwan Perera, Dhawan lobs it to point.

01:10 pm: 13/0 after 3 overs. Mukund and Dhawan have come out with their intentions pretty clear – quick runs. Three boundaries from the first 3 overs, as Lanka start with Pradeep and spinner Perera.

12:57 pm: Abhinav Mukund and Shikhar Dhawan are out in the middle again. Might potentially be the last time Mukund bats in this series – can he make the most of it?

Some numbers from that Sri Lanka innings:

12:47 pm: END OF THE INNINGS! Jadeja gets past the feeble defence of Kumara - the left hander having no answer to a regular turner from Jadeja, over the wicket. Pitches on good length, turns in, hits the stumps.

Update: INDIA WILL BAT AGAIN.

(Wait, if Sri Lanka were just one wicket away from getting all out, they should have extended the first session, no? Technically, Sri Lanka were not 9 wickets down, but COMMON SENSE ANYONE?)

12:40 pm: Here we are, back underway in Galle. Pandya starts. India are one wicket away from having the option to enforce follow on (and not doing it anyway.)

12.00 pm: LUNCH. Sri Lanka are 289/8 (technically nine as Gunaratne won’t bat), 112 to avoid the follow-on, trail by 311 runs. Three wickets fell in that session but Mathews’s excellent 83 and then Dilruwana’s unbeaten 90 has ensured they weren’t bowled out. India still well on top but SL will get some positives from this.

Need a lunch-time break? Here’s Jaideep Vaidya on the importance of Pro-Kabaddi. The season, which is longer and has more teams this year, starts today:

11.55 am: And after some lusty boundaries and sixes, Pandya strikes for his first Test wicket. Dismantles Pradeep’s stumps and ends an irritating partnership. Dilruwan though has been extremely aggressive , even taking Jadeja for a four and six and has moved to 85. SL 284/8.

11.46 am: Hardik Pandya gets a ball just before lunch, even gets some reverse swing but no wicket. SL stay 262/7.

The importance of Hardik Pandya to India:

Quiet appreciation for Dilruwan’s valiant knock.

11.26 am: Dilruwan Perera gets to a fifty and Rangana Herath is out. This time, DRS goes India’s way. Herath went for a reverse...the ball scooped up and was caught. He went for the review, thought it hit his arm...but there was some glove involved. 241/7

As from Dilruwan, he has played some tremendous shots, not been allowed to slog or use his feet against the Jadeja-Ashwin duo.

11.10 am: Ashwin and Jadeja in tandem but India were sure they had another. Caught in front, given out, Dilruwan reviewed in the hope it had hit his bat. It hadn’t but it was going over. Sri Lanka now move on to 221/6.

10.56 am: But Mathews is gone now and Jadeja strikes. Too much aggression, tries to play an expansive uppish cover-drive but can’t clear Kohli at cover who takes a jumping catch. Gone for 83, SL now 205/6.

10.50 am: And now the 200 has come up for Sri Lanka. India have looked a little flat out there today morning, Sri Lanka have showed positive intent and gone for the runs. Mathews 82, partnership 60, SL 203/5. This is Mathews’s best score in the last 27 innings.

10.25 am: This has been a decent start for the Lankans. They’ve looked to show positive intent and haven’t retreated into a shell. Dilruwan Perera even stepped out and hit Jadeja for a six over extra-cover. They are currently 181/5.

10.05 am: Well, that’s not bad. Sri Lanka play the first two overs of the day without damage, even get nine runs, with two boundaries! 163/5.

Pearls of wisdom...

More from that Tharanga run-out:

9.45 am: Do you need a recap of the previous day? Well, Hardik Pandya hit a debut 50 and answered many questions over why he was picked over Rohit Sharma.

“If Pandya can become an integral member of India’s starting XI, he will provide the kind of balance that India have long been hunting for. As the third seamer, he ensures India can always go in with two front-line attacking pacers. As a talented batsman, he solves the conundrum of the No 6 spot. That would mean India will not have to think about dropping a spinner or a batsman when they want to go in with three bowlers on pace-friendly pitches.”  

We are in for a one-sided series, sums up Chetan Narula.

“Similarly, the Indian team management also threw down the gauntlet at the Sri Lanka batsmen. It was a matter of lasting out one session and 40 minutes on a flat-track where they had spent five-plus sessions chasing leather. Instead, they buckled under the pressure of a tall-score, with some nagging line and length bowled by Shami, Umesh Yadav and Ashwin. There was simply no escape, and the Lankan batting buckled under this chokehold.”