Dilshan hits century as Lanka restore parity

S S Ramaswamy
Ahmedabad, Nov 17 (PTI) Tillakaratne Dilshan produced a
scintillating century as Sri Lanka put up a spirited batting
display to leave the first cricket Test against India evenly
poised at the end of the second day here Tuesday.

After polishing off the remaining four wickets in quick
time to restrict India to 426 in the first innings, the
in-form Dilshan (112) took centrestage with a fine exhibition
of strokeplay to steer the islanders to a comfortable 275 for
three at close on the second day.
Dilshan notched up his 10th Test century -- and the
fifth this year -- to lay the foundation for a strong Lankan
reply in excellent batting conditions at the Motera stadium
which again saw more than 300 runs being scored.
Mahela Jayawardene (36) and Thilan Samaraweera (45) were
at the crease at stumps with the visitors still trailing the
hosts by 151 runs.
Earlier, resuming at the score of 385-6, India lost their
last four wickets for 41 runs and were all out soon after the
first drinks break to allow the visitors to claw their way
back into the game.
The Lankan batsmen then ensured that they kept the team
in the hunt for their maiden Test win on Indian soil by
batting sensibly right through the day.
Captain Kumar Sangakkara (31) and young opener Tharanga
Paranavitana (35) got the starts but could not translate those
into big knocks, falling to injudicious shots. More PTI SSR
MYR


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