Mohali, March 6 : After hammering his career-best unbeaten 175 with bat, Ravindra Jadeja struck gold with the ball by scalping five wickets to help India skittle Sri Lanka for 174 and enforce follow-on on Day 3 of the first Test here on Sunday. Jadeja finished with dream figures of 5 for 41 after ample help coming from Jasprit Bumrah (2), Ravichandran Ashwin (2) and Mohammad Shami (1) who shared five wickets among themselves. Sri Lanka were 10 for 1 in their second innings at lunch. India had declared their innings on 574/8 on Day 2 of the Test on Saturday. In the first session, the visitors struggled to negotiate Indian spinners and pacers as they were getting purchase out of the wicket.
In a rare feat, Jadeja became the first Indian since 1962 to crack 150-plus runs and bag five wickets in a Test match. Vinoo Mankad and Polly Umrigar were the other Indians who had achieved the milestone. While Mankad had scored 184 and bagged 5 wickets for 196 against England in 1952, Umrigar hit an unbeaten 172 and claimed 5 wickets for 107 runs against West Indies in 1962. Ashwin struck early to dismiss Lahiru Thirimanne (0) in Sri Lanka’s second innings. Earlier, Jadeja bagged five wickets for 41 as he helped India take a gigantic lead of 400 runs lead over the visitors. Pathum Nissanka (61 not out) completed his fifty, but Sri Lanka lost wickets at regular intervals at the other end.
They had resumed Day 3 from their overnight score of 108 for 4. If Sri Lanka want to take the Test to the fourth day, they have to play out of their skins, otherwise they could lose it by evening. Earlier, Jadeja smacked the Sri Lankan bowling to amass his career-best score in Test cricket after putting on a stand of 130 with overnight partner Ashwin, who made 61, to help India notch up a massive total on the scoreboard. He recorded his second Test century before lunch, surpassing his previous best of 100 not out. Rishabh Pant grabbed all media space on Day 1 by smashing an entertaining 96, while Hanuma Vihari, who batted at No.3 for first time, also hit a fifty. Virat Kohli had also played a fine knock of 45, but missed out on a big score in his 100th Test. India had won the toss and skipper Rohit Sharma had elected to bat.
Wth UNI inputs
