India vs Sri Lanka LIVE Score, 1st Test, Day 3: Jadeja, Ashwin in focus as IND aims to pick quick wickets

Welcome to Sportstar‘s LIVE coverage of Day 3 of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka in Mohali.

LIVE COMMENTARY

Stay tuned! The live coverage of the match begins at 9.30AM IST.

DAY 2 REPORT

Ravindra Jadeja enjoyed one of the finest days of his Test career to help consolidate India’s advantage on a one-sided day two at the PCA stadium here. He smashed a career best 175 not out (228b, 17×4, 3×6) – first grafting then slogging merrily after lunch – before getting rid of opener Dimuth Karunaratne with a sharply-turning delivery in the post-tea session as Sri Lanka struggled to hang on in the contest and faced an uphill climb ahead.

The odds of a befitting first-innings reply to India’s 574 for 8 declared dimmed half an hour before close of play, when Angelo Mathews was dismissed leg-before-wicket by Jasprit Bumrah. He was perhaps a little unlucky to be given out. The ball was short of a good length and hit him high on the thigh pad; the on-field umpire had given it out, however, and the verdict could not be reversed. A huge blow had been struck. And one more – the fourth – had fallen by stumps, R. Ashwin removing Dhananjaya de Silva with a sharp off-spinner, the ball hitting the batter’s left pad as he tried to play a slog-sweep.

On the field, Sri Lanka endured phases of absolute mayhem against spin, and so its top-order batters weren’t averse to using their feet for big hits against the Jadeja, Ashwin, and Jayant Yadav. Karunaratne hit Jayant, perhaps the least threatening of the three spinners, for back-to-back boundaries in the 14th over, and Ashwin was hit, too, on occasion, by both Karunaratne and the No. 1 spinner. 3, Pathum Nissanka. Mathews, on the other hand, was content to target Jadeja, his nemesis – Mathews has got out six times to Jadeja in his career – but only to those deliveries sitting up for him to slog.

Cautious start to the day

The day was set up by Jadeja as he laid anchor for a considerable period in the morning, playing sedately alongside Ashwin (61, 82b, 8×4). That there was another treat in store later – Rishabh Pant had given a spectacular exhibition on day one – it wasn’t clear. Some of Ashwin’s strokes for boundaries were a treat to watch, especially two straight drives: the first one was off a good length delivery from Fernando in the 101st over, and the other was off a full delivery from Embuldeniya which was converted into a full toss by the batter as he came down the pitch.

The pitch was flat and dry, and the reverse-swing, if obtained, wasn’t causing difficulties. It didn’t help that Lahiru Kumara, who left the field during his 11th over on day one, couldn’t take the field due to a hamstring tear.

All attention was on Jadeja as he moved to 97 with a cover-drive off Embuldeniya, taking toll of a slightly overpitched delivery. Soon after, he moved to 99 with a pull off Lakmal, who decided to test the batters out with the short balls for that over. With Ashwin also in the mood to go for his strokes, the bait worked, Ashwin moving to 61 with a fierce pull to midwicket before nicking a shorter, faster delivery behind.

Boundaries galore

Jadeja had thus far played judiciously, using his feet well to mainly collect his boundaries via cuts and pulls. He brought out his atypical celebration upon reaching his century, twirling the bat in his left hand as if playing with a sword, and decided to shift gears, just as Pant had done after he had reached his half-century on day one.

The post-lunch session was haze of boundaries and sixes as Jadeja went after Fernando, Ebuldeniya and Dhananjaya. Exacerbating Sri Lanka’s agony was also a faux pas on the field amid all the boundary hitting – Fernando fumbled the ball as he attempted to run Jadeja out in the non-strikers ’end after a mix-up between the batters, and by the time he realized he had to relay the ball to the other end quickly, it was too late, the wicketkeeper spreading his arms in agony. The dismissal of Jayant Yadav – he edged to the slips a delivery from Fernando going across with the angle from over the wicket – was a minor aberration.

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Ravindra Jadeja, the ‘rockstar’, blossoms as many predicted

Jadeja teed off in the 121st over, collecting 15 runs in that over by Embuldeniya (including 14 off three deliveries), en route bringing up India’s 500. He skipped down the pitch for a six down the ground, cleared his front leg to slog the next ball for four, and then steered a short delivery towards deep backward square leg. Soon after, he pulled a short one from Dhananjaya to midwicket for four, before slogging hard to long-off for his second six, bringing up his 150 with panache.

Mohammed Shami (20 no, 34b, 3×4), who hadn’t contributed much to the partnership till then, joined in the fun, driving and cutting for boundaries. And when Jadeja stepped down once again to hit Embuldeniya for six, he had registered the highest score by a No. 7 batter for India. The 100 partnership was up, too, off just 91 deliveries. With 574 on the board, Rohit Sharma decided it was enough. It was the team’s first 500-plus score since October, 2019.

– Abhishek Mukherjee

PLAYING 11

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Pathum Nissanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando

Cough

India opts to one

TEAMS (from)

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hanuma Vihari, S. Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Saurabh Kumar, Jayant Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Dhananjaya de Silva (vc), Angelo Mathews, Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Jeffrey Vandersay.