India v/s Sri Lanka, 1st Test: Visitors march towards first innings lead at Eden Gardens

A flourishing 79-run partnership between Lahiru Thirimanne and Angelo Mathews put Sri Lanka firmly on course for a significant first innings lead against India in the opening test at Kolkata on Saturday.

The islanders, searching for their first test victory in India, dismissed the hosts for 172 and were cruising at 113-2 at tea on the third day of a rain-affected first match of the three-test series. Thirimanne was batting on 48 at the break with Mathews on 31, after featuring in the highest partnership of what has been a bowler-dominated contest.

After bowling out the hosts, Sri Lanka looked to make up for lost time by scoring at nearly four runs an over to consolidate their position as the rain finally stayed away after allowing only 32.5 overs in the first two days. Resuming on a precarious 74-5, the bottom half of the Indian order contributed 98 valuable runs in the morning session to lend some respectability to their total on a green Eden Gardens track.

Overnight batsman Cheteshwar Pujara hit Rangana Herath for his 10th boundary to bring up his 16th test fifty but was clean bowled by Lahiru Gamage for 52. Wriddhiman Saha and Ravindra Jadeja refused to retreat into …read more