Colombo: Indian bowlers failed to break through the Sri Lankan resistance spearheaded by Sonal Dinusha and Pasindu Sooriyabandara in the company of late order batters as the home side finished day three of the second Test on 265 for eight here on Tuesday.
Dinusha (85 batting) and Lahiru Kumara (8 batting) were at the crease when stumps were drawn early because of rain and bad light. Sri Lanka still need 38 runs to avoid the follow-on after India amassed 503 for nine in their first innings.
Once the hosts resumed from the tea score of 216 for seven, they were staring at an earlier end to the innings.
But Dinusha notched up his third 50-plus score in as many innings in this series to keep the Indians at bay across two sessions.
A diminutive left-hander, Dinusha displayed towering spirit and technical nous to counter the Indians.
Prasidh tested him with lifters and toe-crushers while spinners — Manav Suthar, Ravindra Jadeja and Saransh Jain — teased his awareness of lines.
The 25-year-old, however, came out of those tough interrogation spaces with flying colours, leaving the Indians a frustrated lot for 201 minutes.
However, Dinusha, who fetched his fifty in 84 balls, had two equally stone-minded companions — Keshara Nuwantha and Lahiru Kumara.
With Nuwantha, he added 57 runs for the eighth wicket and the former played out 74 balls, and then added 35 runs for the ongoing ninth wicket with Kumara, who consumed 50 balls in 65 minutes.
The Indians will be a massively disappointed lot to see an old failing against tail-end batters resurfacing at a very inopportune moment at the SSC ground.
But before they hit the roadblock, the Indians appeared to have primed to put an early end to Sri Lankan innings, reducing them to 216 for seven at tea.
In the pre-lunch session, Sri Lanka were competitive despite losing two wickets as they had added 122 runs.
But in the middle passage, the visiting bowlers took command of the proceedings, scalping four wickets and conceded just 86 runs.
India inflicted an early jolt on Sri Lanka as left-arm spinner Suthar found his correct length.
Suthar forced Dhananjaya de Silva to edge one to KL Rahul, who held onto the catch in the second attempt at first slip.
From that point, there was no respite for the Lankan batters.
But the body blow was the dismissal of Sooriyabandara (80), who batted with a rare mix of patience and elegance.
Jadeja, who made only a cameo appearance in the opening session of the day, bowled one close to Sooriyabandara’s body, and the batter’s effort to guide the ball down point saw his stumps getting rearranged.
Two runs later, Mohammad Siraj accounted for Niroshan Dickwella with a rather innocuous down the leg delivery, which the Lankan batter edged to Dhruv Jurel.
Before their late evening fight back, Sri Lanka had their moments in the first session too, courtesy a good 87-run alliance for the third wicket between Sooriyabandara and Kamindu Mendis.
Starting from eight for two, the home side showed better spirit in the opening passage of the day, which was also spiced up by verbal exchanges between Sarfaraz Khan, substituting for Rishabh Pant, Siraj and the Lankan batters.
Before the Lankans gained some foothold, India began the day brightly, dismissing overnight batter Kamil Mishara (19).
Mishara failed to deal with a viciously rising delivery from Prasidh, fending it to stumper Jurel.
But Sooriyabandara and Mendis thwarted Indians’ hopes of making further inroads into the Lankan top order for nearly two hours.
They tackled the bowlers with little nerves, and hardly allowed two spinners — Suthar and debutant Jain to settle down.
The off-spinner Jain procured some bounce and turn but the Lankan duo handled that rather comfortably.
Sooriyabandara, who was playing his second Test, was the lead act of that third wicket alliance.
The elegant right-hander reached his maiden Test fifty in 76 balls.
Mendis, on the other hand, smashed Suthar for a six over mid-wicket to announce his intentions.
But Prasidh, who bowled two lively spells, broke the blooming alliance with another snorter aimed at the throat of Mendis, which he pulled straight into the hands of Jadeja at mid-wicket.
India also fetched the stalled momentum back with that wicket, and the hostile spell of Prasidh.
