Manav Suthar Stars as India Beat Sri Lanka in Galle

After getting Dinusha out in the 76th over, Manav Suthar went on to take four wickets in 10 balls, his second five-for in two Tests, and the new ball was unnecessary.

On a slow, new-ball wicket, India showed the patience and persistence required to defeat Sri Lanka’s tough middle order by 165 runs. Sonal Dinusha came within 16 runs of a second century in the Test, Dhananjaya de Silva made a half-century, and India appeared satisfied to keep the scoring under control so that they could finish the job with the second new ball.

It will be a pleasant victory for a young transitioning squad that has lost two of its last three series in spin-friendly conditions, including at home. They did win the toss, but had to deal with inclement weather throughout the Test, which influenced some of the shots their middle-order players took in the opening innings.

The bowling, on the other hand, was fantastic, with Suthar on the rise, Ravndra Jadeja posing a threat, the seamers combining for a lot of control and five wickets in the match, and Kuldeep Yadav making slow progress toward improved rhythm.

On the final day, with six wickets to win, India stuck with pace at one end. Mohammed Siraj and Jadeja continued to test Dinusha and de Silva as they approached the half-century mark.

The overnight pair saw off these bowlers’ first spells, but Jadeja returned after less than a half hour to dismiss de Silva. He went past the outside edge with one that turned large, then slowed the next ball down to pull a top edge on the sweep.

Niroshan Dickwella had an uneasy innings, attempting to reverse-sweep and sweep Kuldeep from well outside leg as he bowled around the wicket, looking for something different.

Against Prasidh Krishna’s short balls, he moved around the crease. Dickwella top-edged a cut, constrained by the line despite backing away from the stumps, following some banter with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was encouraging him to play the hook.

Dinusha and Keshara Nuwantha held out for 15 overs before Dinusha made a mistake that let the floodgates open. Suthar had gone around the wicket, pitched one outside leg, and just turned the ball into the clutches of the solitary catcher, the leg gully. The extra bounce most likely had an impact.

Suthar will be quite delighted with the next three wickets, which were all the result of less turn than planned.

All bowled faster with a square seam rather than overspin with the seam pointing toward slip, his primary weapon. However, if you keep turning the ball big, you can continue to go past the edge without taking a wicket. Suthar demonstrated the variation while also exposing the other edge. Nuwantha was the final man out, bowled off the inside edge with 2.2 overs remaining for the new ball.