Sri Lanka's bowling coach Chaminda Vaas expressed satisfaction with the performance of spinners Malinda Pushpakumara and Lakshan Sadakan, who shared five wickets between them to restrict India to 329 for six at stumps on Day One of the third Test
Sri Lanka's Malinda Pushpakumara (centre) celebrates the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane with a teammate in Kandy on Saturday. Pic/AFP
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Sri Lanka's bowling coach Chaminda Vaas expressed satisfaction with the performance of spinners Malinda Pushpakumara and Lakshan Sadakan, who shared five wickets between them to restrict India to 329 for six at stumps on Day One of the third Test.
India looked set for a score close to 400 after opting to bat but some fine bowling in the final two sessions by left-arm spinner Pushpakumara (3-40 in 18 overs) and chinaman Sandakan (2-84 in 25 overs) helped the hosts gain some foothold at the close of play. India lost three wickets each in the last two sessions.
"The bowlers came and bowled pretty well, especially the spinners. We kept them to 320 for the first day. I am really, really happy with the spinners. At the end, the way Vishwa Fernando bowled in the last two spells was also good," said Vaas at the press conference.
"The track is really good for batting. We saw in the first few hours how the ball was behaving, and how the batsmen were scoring runs. This is a typical Kandy wicket," he added.
The spinners did most of the restrictive work but Lankan pacers found their rhythm late in the day. The hosts have been hit by a spate of injuries with their senior bowlers Nuwan Pradeep and Suranga Lakmal unavailable.
Inexperienced Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumara were called up in their absence.
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