As expected, the ball was spinning, and Sri Lanka's batsmen, talented as they may be, were found wanting. Barring one blip, that of the lacklustre Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis launched a counter-attacked on India and took the side to 118/1 at the tea interval. Sri Lanka may still be light years away from saving the Test but at least it's a start.Tharanga's torrid run continued an in-drifter from Umesh Yadav crashed onto his middle stump. And just when it seemed like the beginning of another slide, Mendis and Karunaratne steadied up things. The idea for Sri Lanka was not to play defensively as every now and then a ball would erupt from the surface and trouble them.

Source: Times of India August 05, 2017 06:44 UTC