However it was Ashwin’s day on Wednesday as playing his first Test match on Sri Lankan soil, the off spinner finished with 6 for 46 as the home team were bowled out in 49.4 overs after they won the toss and elected to bat.
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Indian skipper Virat Kohli along with southpaw Shikhar Dhawan will look establish a solid foundation on day 2 of the first Test here on Thursday.
Visiting India, thanks to an impressive bowling performance from off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, took control after dismissing the Lankans for a paltry 183 runs in their first innings.
Dhawan and Kohli started their day at an overnight score of 128 for two, 55 runs behind.
As in 4th Batsman, came in Virat Kohli. In the second hour, though, the pace picked up and India ended with 99 runs in the session.
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Ashwin then joined the party, claiming the vital wicket of veteran batsman Kumar Sangakkara (5), who is set to retire after the second Test of the three-match series. With Angelo Mathews off the field, Lahiru Thirimanne took over the captaincy and appeared keener to go ahead with spin. Dhawan took 18 deliveries to move from 91 to 98, then reached his fourth Test hundred with another fluently placed cover-drive between the offside fielders for four, off his 178th delivery faced. He had an interesting duel with Rangana Herath (40/0), who had a couple good LBW shouts against the batsman, but the Indian captain made sure that he planted his front-foot just outside the bowler’s line and put that mode of dismissal out of context. Two quick wickets within the first 10 overs gave the hosts something to cheer after a poor batting performance. Mathews, the bowler, and Mathews, the skipper, were clearly missed by the hosts.
