Dinesh Chandimal was unbeaten on 86 as early Stumps were called on day 3 of the 1st Test between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in Galle.
The platform was set earlier in the day however, as overnight batter Oshada Fernando and Kusal Mendis both hit half centuries in a partnership of 91 for the 3rd wicket.
Both were beaten outside the off-stump on multiple occasions but continued to bat with authority, using their feet well to counter the Pakistani spinners Mohammed Nawaz, Agha Salman and Yasir Shah.
Fernando was the first of 5 Sri Lankan wickets to fall in the post-lunch session, but the hosts shifted momentum completely in their favour during that middle session, where they scored 128 runs at 4.5 runs an over.
Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva’s partnership of 40 off 35 paved the way for the quick scoring before de Silva fell victim to Yasir Shah. Chandimal once again found able support from the lower order, putting on 32 alongside Ramesh Mendis, 41 alongside Maheesh Theekshana and an unbeaten 21 with No. 11 Prabath Jayasuriya.
Chandimal looked primed to go for the landmark with a couple of big shots as he had against Australia last Monday, but bad light saw umpires call an early stumps at 4.59pm, with 6 overs left in the day.
For Pakistan’s part, the bowlers were guilty of erring in length regularly, thus they were unable to put the hosts under any kind of pressure over prolonged periods of time, particularly in the 1st session of the day.
With 333 runs already in the bank and 2 full days of cricket (weather permitting) remaining, Sri Lanka will be banking on their spinners to get the job done on Day 4, like they did against Australia exactly a week ago.
