Dhananjaya de Silva (116 not out) and Dinesh Chandimal (64 not out) stitched together an unbeaten 188-run partnership to rescue Sri Lanka from a precarious 26/5 to 214/5 at the end of Day 1 in the third Test against Australia in Colombo on Saturday. Australian pacer Mitchell Starc and off-spinner Nathan Lyon had made merry on a dry pitch before De Silva, playing only his third Test, thwarted Australia when the visitors looked like they were in a position of command yet again.
Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews chose to bat after winning the toss and the hosts looked like getting shot out for their lowest Test score at one point. Starc was yet again making mincemeat of the top order; he scalped Dimuth Karunaratne's wicket for the fifth time in the series. Steve Smith attacked with spin at one end too and it paid rich dividends with the canny Lyon getting the wickets of the dangerous looking Kusal Perera and Mathews.
Australia knew they had a vice-like grip on the contest when the find of the series, Kusal Mendis departed. The celebrations from the Aussie camp said it all; Mendis has pulled off two magnificent counter-attacks from dire situations in this series.
Chandimal was in no hurry to get runs and was happy to give the strike to to his younger partner, who was at ease with the pull, and driving on the leg side. It took 124 balls for Chandimal to get to his half-century. Sri Lanka had a heart in the mouth moment early on in the innings when de Silva was dismissed off a bat-pad catch when he was just on five. The decision was referred and the decision was overturned.
Australia wilted in the later part of the day and could have done better with a couple of half-chances, one offered by each of the batsmen.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka: 214/5 (Dhananjaya de Silva 116 not out, Dinesh Chandimal 64 not out; Mitchell Starc 3 for 47, Nathan Lyon 2 for 72) vs Australia