COLOMBO: Cheteshwar Pujara marked his recall with an unbeaten century after Sri Lanka’s Dhammika Prasad ripped through India’s batting in the decisive third and final Test in Colombo on Saturday.

The tourists, who resumed at 50-2 after a rain-curtailed opening day, moved to 292-8 by stumps on the second day at the Sinhalese Sports Club with Pujara holding fort on a watchful 135 not out.

Pujara, who had been dropped for India’s last four Tests across Australia, Bangladesh and the ongoing series, may not have played this match too if both regular openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan had been fit.

The 27-year-old playing his first Test since the Boxing Day match against Australia in December, grabbed the chance to notch up his seventh Test century that has so far included 13 boundaries.

Fast bowler Prasad bowled superbly to take four wickets in the innings, including two off successive balls on either side of the lunch break that reduced India to 119-5.

Number nine batsman Amit Mishra came to India’s rescue with a defiant 59 during an eighth wicket stand of 104 with Pujara which boosted the total.

Just 15 overs had been bowled in the 75 minutes of play possible due to rain on the opening day after India had been sent in to bat on a greenish pitch under overcast conditions.

When play resumed under bright skies on the second day, the tourists were restricted to 22 runs in the first 15 overs by some accurate bowling by the Sri Lankans.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli survived a torrid opening over from Prasad in which he was lucky to escape a loud shout for leg-before off the second ball and was beaten by the final ball of the over.

India’s scoring opportunities soon dried up and captain Angelo Mathews benefited from the build-up of pressure when Kohli edged behind to give debutant wicket-keeper Kusal Perera, who had dropped the batsman on Friday, his first Test catch.

Pujara and Kohli added 50 for their third-wicket stand.

Rohit Sharma, who has recently been preferred to Pujara in the Test team, added 55 runs for the fourth wicket with Pujara, scoring 26 with three fours and a six before he edged a catch to first slip off Prasad in what became the final delivery of the morning session.

Prasad, who still had one ball to bowl in the over on resumption, trapped Stuart Binny leg-before with the first delivery to open up India’s lower order.

Prasad said it was a delight to be able to bowl on a helpful surface.

“I am enjoying bowling on it, but you have to make sure you don’t get carried away,” he said.

Debutant wicket-keeper Naman Ojha helped Pujara add 54 for the sixth wicket, himself making 21 before he holed out in the deep attempting to smash off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal out of the ground.

Prasad removed Ravichandran Ashwin with the first ball of a new spell, caught behind by Perera for five, but Mishra joined Pujara to frustrate Sri Lanka.

“This is definitely one of the toughest wickets I have played on,” said Pujara. “It’s a challenge to bat on it because you have to keep defending to survive and wait for the loose ball.

“I tried to keep things simple and play my natural game. It was important to play the ball from close to the body because a few guys got out playing it away from the body.”

Pujara said encouraging words from Indian batting great Rahul Dravid motivated him when he was out of the playing XI.

“Rahul told me there was nothing wrong with my technique and that I was batting well,” he said. “He told me to stay calm and a big one could some soon.”

Pujara hit Kaushal for three successive boundaries and the runs started flowing for him aft­er that. The 27-year-old reach­ed triple figures with a tight single off spinner Rangana Herath.

Mishra reached his half-century by driving seamer Nuwan Pradeep to the cover fence for his seventh boundary, but fell soon after when he was stumped off left-arm spinner Herath.

Prasad conceded Sri Lanka had let the advantage slip, but hoped India’s innings will end early on Sunday.

“We had them seven down for 180, but then came the century stand between Pujara and Mishra,” he said. “That put us back a little, but I think we can get back into a good position if we take the remaining wickets early.”

The series is locked at 1-1 after Sri Lanka won the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs and India drew level with a 278-run win in the second match at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo last Monday.—Agencies

Scoreboard

INDIA (1st Inning, overnight 50-2): K.L. Rahul b Prasad 2 C.A. Pujara not out 135 A.M. Rahane lbw b Pradeep 8 V. Kohli c Perera b Mathews 18 R.G. Sharma c Tharanga b Prasad 26 S.T.R. Binny lbw b Prasad 0 N.V. Ojha c Tharanga b Kaushal 21 R. Ashwin c Perera b Prasad 5 A. Mishra st Perera b Herath 59 I. Sharma not out 2 EXTRAS (LB-2, W-3, NB-6, PEN-5) 16 TOTAL (for eight wkts, 95.3 overs) 292 FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-14, 3-64, 4-119, 5-119, 6-173, 7-180, 8-284. TO BAT: U.T. Yadav. BOWLING (to-date): Prasad 23.3-4-83-4 (3nb); Pradeep 22-6-52-1 (3w); Mathews 13-6-24-1; Herath 25-3-81-1; Kaushal 12-2-45-1 (3nb). SRI LANKA: J.K. Silva, F.D.M. Karunaratne, W.U. Tharanga, H.D.R.L. Thirimanne, A.D. Mathews, L.D. Chandimal, M.D.K.J. Perera, K.T.G.D. Prasad, H.M.R.K.B. Herath, P.H.T. Kaushal, N. Pradeep.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2015

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