The spin twins - R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja - were back in the thick of things as the Nagpur wicket stayed true to form and offered turn to the bowlers. Ishant Sharma, who was playing his first Test in eight months, was also impressive as India bowled out Sri Lanka for just 205 on Day 1 of the second day. The visitors showed some fight, but fell to their own profligate ways. Ashwin, Jadeja did not need an invitation and on the hunt as soon as smelled blood.

Sri Lanka got scalp of KL Rahul late in the day, but India will feel they have enough ammunition to surpass their opposition and then add some to take complete control of the game.

As it happened

At stumps, India 11/1 after 8 overs (Vijay 2*, Pujara 2*).
Rahul’s wicket would have hurt, but they have a long line-up. With the wicket expected to break in final few days, India will want to post a big total and take a sizeable lead. The visitors, though, will have other ideas. Sri Lanka showed periods of control through the day, but India were quick to shut it down as a champion side does.
India still trail Sri Lanka by 194 runs.

India 7/1 after 3.5 overs (Vijay 0*)
WICKET! Rahul edges it on to the stumps. He’s dismissed for 7. The ball could have been left alone. Gamage is gifted a scalp. India have been stagnant on 7 runs for four overs now.
KL Rahul 7 b Gamage (13b).

India 7/0 after 2 overs (Rahul 7*, Vijay 0*).
Solid start for India in their first innings. Rahul and Vijay have begun positively. Six overs left in the day.

SL 205 all out in 79.1 overs (Gamage 0*)
WICKET! Ashwin wraps things up. Herath edges it to the catcher in the slip. This his 296th wicket in Test cricket. India will be happy with their effort. Their pacers and spinners complemented each other well. It was a clinical performance.
Herath c Rahane b Ashwin 4 (23b)

Sri Lanka 205/9 after 79 overs (Herath 4*)
WICKET! Ishant gets his third. He has bowled wonderfully today. Gets Lakmal to edge one to the keeper. The Delhi bowler produced a fine performance in his comeback game. Looked at home on a wicket that tilted the way of the spinner as the day progressed. Was lethal with the new ball.
Lakmal c Saha b Ishant 17 (25b)

SL 201/8 after 78 overs (Herath 4*, Lakmal 13*)
200 up for Sri Lanka! The tailenders are delaying the inevitable, but adding invaluable runs. India taking their time here. May be they don’t want to come out and bat today?

SL 185/8 after 72 overs (Herath 0*)
WICKET! Ashwin gets his third now. He traps set batsman Chandimal in front as the Sri Lanka batsman attempts a wild reverse sweep. Sri Lanka’s resistance falling apart. There was a review, but the ball was hitting the stumps. Looking at the way the spinners are bowling, India might just have to bat today.
Chandimal lbw b Ashwin 57 (122b)

Ashwin is looking as deadly as ever. Prashant Bhoot / BCCI / Sportzpics

SL 184/7 after 70.4 overs (Chandimal 57*)
WICKET! Jadeja traps Perera in front of the stumps. He gets his third, Sri Lanka lose their seventh. Sri Lanka have lost their way. Chandimal is the lone force of resistance, but he is losing partners at a fast rate.
Perera lbw b Jadeja 15 (21b).

SL 174/6 after 69 overs (Chandimal 55*, Perera 8*).
Sri Lanka catch a break. The umpire had raised the finger for an lbw appeal against Perera off Jadeja. The review though revealed ball had hit bat first.

SL 165/6 after 66 overs (Chandimal 53*)
WICKET! Bowled! Ashwin castles Shanaka. Bowling round the stumps, the off-spinner beats the outside edge to find the top of off stump.
Shanaka b Ashwin 2 (15b).

Ashwin castled Shanaka for his second wicket of the day. Photo: Prashant Bhoot / BCCI / Sportzpics.

SL 162/5 after 62 overs (Chandimal 50*)
WICKET! Dickwella perishes immediately after Chandimal’s fifty. He plays a nothing shot and skies one off Jadeja. Ishant completes a simple catch. Ashwin and Jadeja bowling in tandem after the tea break and get the breakthrough. The Sri Lanka skipper had completed his 14th half-century earlier.
Dickwella c Ishant b Jadeja 24 (30b)

India-Sri Lanka overdose?

At Tea, SL 151/4 after 59 overs (Chandimal 47*, Dickwella 18*)
Dickwella is batting the way he knows best. Giving himself room and swinging his bat, Interestingly, though, he is finding the gaps with ease. Despite Karunaratne’s exit, Chandimal and Dickwella have kept the pressure on India’s bowlers. The visitors have now added 104 runs in this session.

SL 122/4 after 51 overs (Chandimal 36*)
WICKET! Ishant hands India the breakthrough! Traps Karunaratne in front of the stumps. He departs for 51. The left-handed batsman reviewed the call, but the ball just about pitched in line and hit him on the flap of his pad. Would have crashed into top of the off stump. The wicket brought to an end a gritty 62-runs stand between Karunaratne and Chandimal. India will have their tails up. Dickwella is the next batsman in.
Karunaratne lbw b Ishant 51 (147b)

Returning after missing the first Test, Ishant showed great depth in his effort on Day 1 of the second game in Nagpur. Photo: Deepak Malik / BCCI / Sportzpics

SL 121/3 after 50 overs (Karunaratne 51*, Chandimal 35*)
Karunaratne has become the second batsman to complete 1000 runs in 2017. He and Chandimal have now added more than 50 runs for the fourth wicket. While Sri Lanka’s run-rate has improved only marginally, the pair has laid down the foundation for a fightback from the visitors. Kohli actively trying to make things happen has changed the bowlers and the field placements repeatedly.

SL 105/3 after 45 overs (Karunaratne 44*, Chandimal 26*)
100 up for Sri Lanka. Karunaratne and Chandimal are stitching together a vital stand for the fourth wicket. Chandimal has also completed 3000 Test runs. Sri Lanka will want this duo to stay in the middle and carry on. They are showing intent, which was missing from other batsmen in the morning session.

SL 84/3 after 41 overs (Karunaratne 39*, Chandimal 15*)
Pace is back. Umesh replaces Ashwin. Chandimal has brought some stability in middle, but India managing to bowl tight as Sri Lanka struggle to keep scoreboard ticking. Run Rate: 2.06.

SL 60-3 after 30 overs (Karunaratne 25)
WICKET! Mathews missed a straight one from Jadeja. He went in for the review anyway but it would have crashed into the leg-stump. His bat hit the pad and that might have put the batsman off. Sri Lanka are sinking fast on a good pitch.
AD Mathews lbw b Jadeja 10 (20b 2x4)

SL 51-2 after 28 overs (Karunaratne 25, Mathews 0)
The teams are back on after lunch. Karunaratne got things off and running with a boundary. It will be interesting to see how much they are prepared to change their approach.

SL 47-2 after 27 overs (Karunaratne 21, Mathews 0)
And that is lunch. Slow session. Sri Lanka seemed to have a gameplan but they really couldn’t execute. India had opportunities and they could have had the visitors in bigger trouble if they had taken them all. Sri Lanka’s session run-rate is 1.74 and this is in good batting conditions.

SL 44-2 after 25.5 overs (Karunaratne 21, Mathews 0)
No-ball! Ravindra Jadeja gets his first over of the match and beats Karunaratne. Saha completes a nice stumping but a review showed that the ball was a no-ball. Big miss for India.

SL 44-2 after 25 overs (Karunaratne 18)
WICKET! First wicket for a spinner in the series. Ashwin sends Thirimanne back for 9. He went for the sweep and completely missed the ball as it crashed into the off-stump. The pressure finally working for India.
HDRL Thirimanne b Ashwin 9 (58b)

R Ashwin finally got a chance to bowl a long spell in this series. Photo: Deepak Malik / BCCI / Sportzpics

SL 39-1 after 22 overs (Karunaratne 18, Thirimanne 4)
The pressure almost did the trick but Pujara, who nearly ran out Karunaratne with a direct hit, drops a chance to give the same batsman a life. Karunaratne was on 15. Last 10 overs, 7 runs. Last 54 balls, 8 runs. This isn’t good cricket from the Lankans.

SL 33-1 after 18 overs (Karunaratne 14, Thirimanne 4)
5 overs bowled, 1 run scored. Sri Lanka might be getting stuck in a rut here. Great for India though, the pressure will build.

SL 32-1 after 13 overs (Karunaratne 14, Thirimanne 3)
R Ashwin into the attack and he starts off with a maiden. In Kolkata, the off-spinner went without a wicket for the first time in his Test career but there are cracks on the Nagput wicket and he will definitely come into play as the match goes on. For now, though, he will need to depend on flight more than assistance from the wicket.

SL 31-1 after 10 overs (Karunaratne 14, Thirimanne 2)
The wicket isn’t really doing much. There is good bounce and the ball seemed to thud into the wicketkeeper’s gloves but on the whole, India’s bowlers haven’t really made life very difficult for the Sri Lankan batsmen. One would have liked to see them make the batsmen play more but that hasn’t really happened.

SL 20-1 after 5 overs (Karunaratne 6)
WICKET! Ishant gets the wicket. Brilliant catch by Pujara at first slip. Sadeera walking back. He went for drive on the up and that was a loose shot. He needed to just stay there for a while longer and India would have had to turn to the spinners.
S Samarawickrama c Pujara b I Sharma 13 (15b 1x4)

SL 5-0 after 1 over (Sadeera 5, Karunaratne 0)
Ishant got the new ball and didn’t quite settle into a line and length right away. One wonderful drive by Sadeera got SL off the mark with a four. He played quite aggressively at the Eden Gardens as well and it will be interesting to see his approach today.

Toss

Sri Lanka have won the toss and elected to bat first. Chandimal feels it looks like a good Test cricket, one that will turn as the match goes on and that is where Herath will come into the picture. The visitors have made no changes to their playing XI.

Kohli reveals that India would have batted first as well. Ishant Sharma comes in for Shami (who has picked up a niggle), Rohit Sharma for Bhuvi, Murali Vijay for Dhawan.

The pitch

Not as green as the one at the Eden Gardens but the Nagpur wicket does have a covering of grass too. However, Mohd Kaif sees the wicket helping pacers for just the first session. After that, he believes, this will become a good batting track and will even assist the spinners later in the game.

Green wicket again

Captain Virat Kohli Thursday said India had demanded fast, green-topped wickets for the Test series against Sri Lanka to prepare for their tour of South Africa.

The hosts laid out a green pitch in the opening Test in Kolkata, and Nagpur is also expected to favour the fast bowlers in the second Test starting Friday.

The three Sri Lanka Tests come before India, the world’s top-ranked team, embark on a three-Test tour starting January in South Africa, where they have never won a Test series.

Kohli confirmed reports that team management had ordered fast pitches, instead of the traditional spin-friendly tracks, to get used to South Africa-style conditions.

“Yes, because unfortunately we get only two days before we fly to South Africa after this series is over,” Kohli told reporters.

“So we have no choice but to be in game situations and think of what’s coming ahead for us... As usual cramped for time, which I think we needed to assess in future as well.”

Bhuvneshwar Kumar led an inspired Indian pace attack that took all of the 17 Sri Lankan wickets that fell during the rain-hit first Test, which ended in a draw.

Kohli said he wanted his players to get used to the fast and bouncy tracks that await in venues like Johannesburg and Cape Town, which will host the opening Test.

“We thought this is an ample opportunity for us to challenge ourselves, put us in a situation... As I said, we want to embrace being in difficult conditions,” said Kohli.

“I am not saying everyone will go out and perform immediately but if we can feel comfortable about it after one, two or three innings everybody will come good and once you come good we will get that confidence,” he said.

‘Wily old fox’

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal called it a “good Test wicket” and backed his top spinner Rangana Herath to come good in Nagpur, after he went wicketless in Kolkata.

“We saw so much grass at Eden Gardens, this is much less. This looks a good Test pitch. It’s a challenge for us as a team,” Chandimal said.

“Of course Rangana Herath is a wily old fox. On these wickets he can be handy. We have Dilruwan (Perera) as well in our ranks.”

Kohli said India spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja would also be invaluable with their all-round abilities.

The spin duo have delivered 19 five-wicket hauls between them in Asia since the 2015 South Africa series, as well as valuable contributions with the bat.

“We count them as all-rounders because they have proven themselves in difficult situations and they have made important contributions for the team,” he said.

“So they are not tail-enders any more, they are proper all-rounders. (Their) ranking does justice to that. It gives us good balance when we play them both.”