Centuries from Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal on Thursday put Sri Lanka in firm command of the first Test against West Indies at Galle.
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West Indies interim coach Eldine Baptiste was left to rue two dropped catches on the opening day of the first Test that enabled Sri Lanka to move into a strong position.
It went from bad to worse for the visitors as they lost their openers before the close of play as Milinda Siriwardana claimed his first Test wicket when Shai Hope played on after making just six runs.
Rangana Herath dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite for 34 for his seventh wicket of the test.
They still trail by 166 runs with eight second innings wickets in hand and Bravo is one of the key batsmen on whom West Indies fortunes lie.
Earlier, with the slow pitch offering little assistance for the bowlers, left-hander Karunaratne, unbeaten on 135 overnight, and Chandimal continued to plunder runs for the hosts who won the toss and chose to bat.
Bravo blamed himself for getting out after playing himself in, in the first innings where he scored a half-century.
Bravo looked the most comfortable among the West Indies batsmen, but he fell to a stunning catch by Dinesh Chandimal off Herath.
Herath finished with 6 for 68 off 33 overs – his 23rd five-wicket haul in Tests – as the West Indies were all out shortly after the tea break at the Galle global Stadium.
Chandimal was in similarly imperious form, hitting sixteen fours and two sixes in his innings of 151 – his second hundred at Galle in as many matches following his 162 against India in the previous outing.
Jermaine Blackwood was the other wicket to fall in the morning session.
When both fell in the space of 21 deliveries to leave the Windies slumping on 171 for seven in the first hour after lunch, Taylor and Kemar Roach (22) produced a rear-guard action in an eighth wicket partnership of 46, to see the total past 200.
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During the West Indies’ second innings, after just one over by fast bowler Dhammika Prasad, skipper Angelo Mathews introduced spin and Herath began to trouble the tourists immediately.
