Bengaluru, Mar 12 (UNI- BD Naraayannkar ): Shreyas Iyer’s 92 and five wickets between Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami put India on top on Day 1 of the pink-ball Test against Sri Lanka at Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday. Sri Lanka are 86 for 6, trailing India by 166 runs at stumps with Niroshan Dickwella batting on 13 off 29 and Lasith Embuldeniya on naught. Batting first, India posted 252 all out in their first innings. India lost an early wicket to a run-out and then were foxed by Sri Lankan spinners who scalped the prized wickets of skipper Rohit Sharma (15), Hanuma Vihari (31) and Virat Kohli (23) falling before tea. Rishabh Pant shouldered the innings, but was dismissed and then Ravindra Jadeja followed suit in quick succession. The onus shifted to Sheryas who shaped the Indian innings to a fighting total. In just the fourth Test, Shreyas deserved his second Test century, though he was dropped twice. He took the spinners to cleaners and scored 92 off 98 balls with 10 boundaries and 4 sixes to his credit. The Mumbaikar was the last man to be dismissed before India folded up for 252. Under the lights, Bumrah and Shami took the shine off Sri Lankan batsmen as they swung and seamed the hard new pink ball. After being reduced to 28 for 4 it was an uphill task for Sri Lanka to come back. Angelo Mathews (43) kept Sri Lanka in the game, but edged off Bumrah just two overs away from stumps. Bumrah struck early in the third over as Kusal Mendis (2) got an outside edge to third slip where Shreyas took a good catch. Another edge and another good catch by Shreyas at slip saw Lahiru Thirimanne’s (8) back, reducing Sri Lanka to 14 for 2. Mohammad Shami knocked off Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne’s (4) middle stump of his very first ball of the match. Sri Lanka lost their fourth in the form of Dhananjaya de Silva (10) for just 28 on the board after Shami and Rishabh Pant pushed skipper Rohit Sharma to opt for a review after an LBW appeal was turned down by the field umpire. Axar Patel, who replaced Jayant Yadav, struck in his very second over. Charith Asalanka (5) skied one to Ravichandran Ashwin. Earlier, resuming at 93 for 4 at tea, Sri Lanka struck two quick wickets removing first Test hero Ravindra Jadeja (4) and Pant (39). Jadeja departed trying to cut one from Embuldeniya, who claimed his second wicket. Pant accelerated, but Sri Lanka struck back with his wicket after they bogged him down with some dots. Ravichandran Ashwin was adjudged leg-before after missing a sweep off Embuldeniya, but managed to reverse the decision after opting for a review. The replay showed that the ball was bouncing a bit too much. Ashwin lost his wicket as he tried to make room for the cut and got a big deflection into Niroshan Dickwella’s gloves.
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