Senior pro Dinesh Chandimal took the responsibility to build the innings for his team as Sri Lanka managed to finish strongly on the first day of the first Test at the Supersport Park, Centurion, against hosts South Africa.
The Lankan Tigers, helped by fifties from 31-year-old Chandimal and 29-year-old Dhananjaya de Silva, reached 340-6 at Stumps with all-rounder Dasun Shanka on 25 not out, supported ably by paceman Kasun Rajitha who was not out on 7, having faced 27 balls, with the partnership between the two a total of 20 runs.
Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and decided to bat first on a lively Centurion first day track. The Islanders tried countering the pace of Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje through aggressive shots, but one shot too many led to the fall of the top three wickets in the form of wickets of Karunaratne, Kusal Perera, and Kusal Mendis, at the score of 54 in only 11 overs.
While Nortje got the better of Mendis, Karunaratne chopped on a rising Ngidi delivery. Wiaan Mulder who made a comeback into the South African side for the first time after playing his first Test against Sri Lanka in 2019, took out Perera for 16.
After the early breakthroughs, the pair of Chandimal and de Silva took it upon themselves to pull the team out of the miserable situation. The pair played some exquisite drives and while de Silva went on the aggressive, Chandimal mixed caution with delightful strokeplay to reach his 19th Test fifty. The Colombo-born de Silva was fluently moving towards what would have been his seventh Test hundred before an untoward injury forced him to retire hurt on 79.
Chandimal then put on a 99-run stand with wicket-keeper batsman Niroshan Dickwella before getting an unplayable delivery from Mulder which rose up from a good length to take the fine edge of his gloves and went right into the hands of Faf du Plessis, at first slip. He made 85.
If the Proteas thought that the fall of Chandimal’s wicket would open the floodgates and the tail would crumble, they were in for a surprise as, after Chandimal’s dismissal at the score of 284, the Lankan tail wagged and quite nicely at that, having added 55 runs so far with four wickets remaining.
Mulder remained the bright light for de Kock’s team. He picked up three out of the total six wickets to fall on the day. Along with him, Nortje too has been impressive while Lutho Simapla really needs to put in the hard yards tomorrow morning to add to the lone wicket he has had so far in the game.
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