Sri Lanka started the second day’s proceedings of the second Test at Galle at the overnight score of 113-1 and were looking to capitalise on the momentum from Pathum Nissanka’s half-century who was unbeaten at 61. However, Veerasammy Permaul, playing his first Test in seven years had other ideas as he pulled out the career-best performance with the ball to dismantle the Lankan middle order and trigger a collapse.
Sri Lanka lost their last nine wickets in a span of just 65 runs and 19.3 overs with Permaul accounting for five of the nine dismissals. He was helped equally by Jomel Warrican who picked up the remaining four wickets.
The start to the wicket-taking spree of the West Indies team was initiated by Warrican who removed Oshada Fernando early in the morning to break the overnight stand. Permaul then got the wicket of Nissanka as his first scalp of the game. Angelo Mathews was retired hurt in the meanwhile due to hamstring injury, but the sequence of falling wickets unfolded as if planed by some divine intervention. One after the other it just kept falling apart.
None among Dinesh Chandimal, Dhananjaya de Silva and Ramesh Mendis could get to double figures. Charith Asalanka, who was making his Test debut was also dumbfounded and became Permaul’s third scalp, getting out for 10.
Had it not been for some lusty blows at the end from Mathews who came back after the fall of the eights wicket, it would have been difficult for Sri Lanka to even get past the 200 run mark. Eventually with no help from lower-order either, the team folded for 204.
In reply, West Indies haven’t lost even a single wicket having scored 12 at the time of writing this.