Sri Lanka vs India 2015: Visitors dominate Day 1 at Galle
Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Virat Kohli brought the Indian innings in control after two early blows as India finished Day 1 at 128 for the loss of 2 wickets. India ended the first day just 55 runs short of the Lankan score in the first innings of the 1st Test at Galle.
Captain Angelo Mathews' decision to bat first after winning the crucial toss has proved costly for Sri Lanka as Indian bowlers ruled the first two sessions by taking all ten opponents’ wickets in no time. The home team were bowled out for 183 before tea.
Disciplined batting by Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal after lunch gave Sri Lanka a respected platform. Both the batsmen reached their fifty in the same session, but Mathews (64) soon got out off Ashwin's delivery when Rohit Sharma took a stunning catch at short-leg.
Sri Lanka's half team was back in the dugout till lunch; their top order failed miserably as bounce and spin troubled them. In an inspiring bowling performance, Ishant Sharma drew first blood by taking opener Dimuth Karunaratne's wicket off a short ball. Varun Aaron joined him by getting the other opener Kaushal Silva out in the next over.
Ashwin got the big wicket of Kumar Sangakkara who is playing his farewell series. The tourists bowled with active strength since the first ball. The dry wicket is already offering a lot of help to the Indian bowlers, as it was tough to bat on the pitch.
Amit Mishra joined the party, as he picked up two consecutive wickets of Chandimal (59) and Tharindu Kaushal (0) just before Ashwin finished the Lankans’ innings by getting Herath clean bowled. Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers as he cleared the middle order of Sri Lanka by taking 6 wickets.
India lost Lokesh Rahul and Rohit Sharma cheaply; both the batsmen got out leg before wicket. Sri Lanka's confidence seemed to be coming back after the first innings blunder, but Dhawan's fifty and Kohli's patient innings kept India in the driver's seat of the match. The visitors are trailing by 55 runs with 8 wickets in their first innings.
Teams
SL XI: Dimuth Karunaratne, Kaushal Silva, Kumar Sangakkara, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews(c), Dinesh Chandimal(w), Jehan Mubarak, Rangana Herath, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, T Kaushal
IND XI: Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma