After electing to bat, Sri Lanka was done in by some fine spin bowling from Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra on day one of the first Test match in Galle on Wednesday.
Ravinchandran Ashwin took six for 46, his 11th five-wicket haul of his career. Amit Mishra struck in his sixth over by taking two wickets in a row to bundle out Sri Lanka for 183.
The third spinner Harbhajan Singh could not take any wickets.
Sri Lanka was stuttering at 65 for 5 at lunch. Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal stitched together a 79-run partnership to enable Sri Lanka to recover.
But Ravichandran Ashwin spun the web and Sri Lanka buckled under the pressure.
Earlier, before lunch, Sri Lanka had the worst of starts after pace spearhead Ishant Sharma struck in the seventh over of the innings and the hosts just kept sliding further.
Dimuth Karunaratne (9) was Ishant’s victim after giving away a catch to Ajinkya Rahane at gully. Sharing the new ball with Ishant, Varun Aaron struck in the very next over to get opener Kaushal Silva (5) back in the pavilion.
Kaushal was dropped on nought by Shikhar Dhawan at first slip against Aaron, but failed to capitalise on it.
Spin was introduced in the 12th over and it was an all Ashwin show after the off-spinner struck right away to pack off Kumar Sangakkara (5), who is playing the penultimate Test of his illustrious career.
The veteran left-handed batsman edged a slow-turner, off the backfoot, to silly pint where Lokesh Rahul took a reflex catch.
Ashiwn kept up the pressure after that and got Lahiru Thirimanne (13) edge one to slip as Rahane took a good low catch to his left.
Jehan Mubarak (0) was Ashwin’s third victim as Mathews (26 not out) and Dinesh Chandimal (5 not out) hung on till lunch.
Earlier the hosts made two changes from their last Test against Pakistan, with Sangakkara coming in for Upul Tharanga and Rangana Herath for Suranga Lakmal.
The Virat Kohli-led side went in with five bowlers, opting to play all three spinners , Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Harbhajan Singh, in the eleven.
