Sri Lanka suffered a baffling collapse on the third day of the first Test match between India and Sri Lanka, as the hosts scored a thumping victory over their neighbours. Ravindra Jadeja was the star of the show yet again, picking up nine wickets in the game, setting up a massive innings victory for his side. Jadeja, in addition to getting a world-class 175* in India’s first innings, also picked up a five wicket haul in the visitors’ first innings, and continued the good work to scalp four in the second innings as well, as Sri Lanka were forced to follow on.
In what can only be described as a Jadeja special, the Saurashtra all-rounder paid a fitting tribute to his mentor, the legendary Shane Warne, who passed away on Friday. India won their first Test match under new skipper Rohit Sharma, by a margin of an innings and 222 runs, to go 1-0 up in the two-match series.
The Sri Lankans began the day on 108/4, with talented duo Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka at the crease. The two looked solid at first, and added quite a few runs during the first session, mitigating the disciplined bowling by the Indian attack. After adding 58 runs for the fifth wicket, Asalanka was deceived through the air by a brilliantly disguised slower ball by ace speedster Jasprit Bumrah. Asalanka’s dismissal opened the floodgates, as the Lankan Lions were barely able to make a dent on the scorecard from then on, collapsing in spectacular fashion.
Sri Lanka lost their remaining five wickets in a span of just seven overs, while adding a meagre 13 runs to their score. Jadeja ripped through the bottom half of the Sri Lanka batting, dismissing four out of five batsmen, including three ducks. Veteran Mohammed Shami picked up the remaining wicket as the Sri Lankan batsmen after Dickwella, who was also only able to score two runs, all got out for ducks. With a massive lead of 400 runs, Sharma decided to enforce the follow-on, in an aggressive attempt to end the game as soon as possible.
The second innings was more of the same for both sides. Senior offie Ravichandran Ashwin got rid of Lahiru Thirimanne for a duck, and followed it up shortly with the wicket of Pathum Nissanka, who had scored an unbeaten half-century in the first innings. The set-up for Nissanka’s dismissal was absolutely brilliant from Ashwin, as he tempted the batsman with a few slower deliveries before firing in a quicker one, which completely undid Nissanka, and also brought Ashwin level with the great Kapil Dev on 434 Test wickets.
Mohammed Shami got rid of Karunaratne, after which Dhananjaya de Silva and veteran Angelo Mathews built somewhat of a partnership, which was eventually broken by the imperious Ravindra Jadeja, who dismissed both of them. Asalanka departed after playing a short yet entertaining cameo, as Ashwin became the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Test cricket. What followed was no different from the first innings, as the entire tail crumbled in no time, ending the Test match on Day 3, as India asserted their dominance via a victory by an innings and 222 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja was the undisputed man of the match, as he scored 175* in the first innings, and then picked up 9-87 in the Test match to single-handedly set up India’s monumental victory.
