Virat Kohli's evolving team came to Sri Lanka hoping to end India's series win drought since 1993, and quickly achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first Indian side to bowl out the hosts on the first day of a Test in the country. Central to that dominant performance was the exceptional work from India's bowling spearhead R Ashwin, who took 6/46, his best figures outside of India, aided by some excellent close-in catching.
Sri Lanka's 183 inside two sessions was their seventh-lowest total at home since 2000 when batting first, and they will view the turning surface at Galle International Stadium with some skepticism following Ashwin's heroics, chiefly because their spinners, Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal, went wicketless in 15 overs.
India ended the day on 128/2, trailing by 55, with Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli forming the highest partnership of the match.
That India were propelled to such a strong position owed largely to Ashwin. Given the ball after 11 overs of pace from Ishant Sharma and Varun Aaron, the offspinner struck with his third ball to get Kumar Sangakkara for 5 in his penultimate Test. The Sri Lankan veteran had found himself striding out at 15/2, two balls into the eighth over and to the sound of fireworks, but those hoping for a masterclass were left disappointed. Sangakkara's stay at the crease lasted 12 deliveries before he pushed to an alert KL Rahul at silly point just after the first drinks break, at which stage Sri Lanka were in a mess at 27/3.
In Ashwin's fifth over, Lahiru Thirimanne - whom some will feel was fortunate to hold onto his place after scoring 90 runs in six previous innings - poked to slip on 13. Next to go was Jehan Mubarak for 0, popping Ashwin to short leg. Ashwin ended the first session with 3/15 in six crippling overs - each dismissal that of a left-hander.
These strikes had come after the two fast bowlers selected, Ishant and Aaron, plucked out a Sri Lankan opener each during pacy opening spells which featured appreciable bounce from a dry surface. Ishant bounced out Dimuth Karunaratne for 9 and Aaron accounted for Kaushil Silva for 5, though replays showed the ball had kissed the batsman's arm guard. It was India's session entirely, after being forced to field on a track that offered turn and bounce.
Sri Lanka gained some ground after that tough morning, recovering through Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, but once the Sri Lanka captain was dismissed the innings gave way with the remaining four wickets collapsing for 44 in 8.1 overs. As he had in the first session, Ashwin removed key batsmen to end with six wickets - a standout performance against the backdrop of some lacklustre bowling from fellow offspinner Harbhajan Singh and Aaron, who bled 34 run in his last four overs to end with an economy rate of 6.18.
Wriddhiman Saha dropped Chandimal on 5 moments after lunch, the simplest of outside edges put down to Ishant's disbelief. A period of recovery followed, with Chandimal and Mathews putting on 79 in 20 overs for the sixth wicket. Mathews - in his 50th Test - used his crease well, going deep to the quicks in trying to work the ball towards the leg side and nudging spin around the corner. He didn't get bogged down, crucially, and his coolheaded approach ensured that runs ticked over to India's annoyance. On 45, Mathews skipped down and clouted Harbhajan for six to reach his fifty off 77 deliveries.
After an odd prolonged absence, Kohli turned back to Ashwin for a third spell and the rewards were almost immediate. With his ninth ball Ashwin extracted Mathews (64) with some help from Rohit Sharma at short leg, who took a stunning catch on the second attempt, falling backwards; six balls later Dhammika Prasad was out for 0. Amit Mishra, playing his first Test in four years, found himself on a hat-trick before Ashwin ended the innings in the 50th over, bowling the third highest scorer in Rangana Herath (23).
India's reply was shaky up front, with Rahul (7) and Rohit (9) lbw to Prasad and Mathews inside ten overs, but Dhawan and Kohli solidified the innings. Dhawan hit five punchy boundaries before he was dropped by Mathews at slip on 28 off Tharindu Kaushal's offspin; otherwise he was assured in his footwork, preferring to get down the track to spin and drive as straight as possible.
Kohli's 45 was a busy innings, and he will want to convert this into a sizeable effort on day two.
Brief scores: India 128/2 (Shikhar Dhawan 53*, Virat Kohli 45*) trail Sri Lanka 183 (Angelo Mathews 64, Dinesh Chandimal 59, R Ashwin 6/46) by 55 runs
(Times of India)
