Sri Lanka 287 for 3 (Mathews 79*, Chandimal 68*, Masood 1-34) lead Afghanistan 198 by 89 runs
Afghanistan appeared principally to their spinners after lunch. However though every had their moments, debutant left-arm spinner Zia-ur-Rehman, and legspinner Qais Ahmed, who’s taking part in his second Check, have been performed largely with ease by each batters on a floor that had flattened for the quicks, however was removed from taking speedy flip.
Each spinners tended to fireplace the ball in, with so little menace on supply from the floor. This was significantly true in the aftermath of a boundary, or a spate of singles.
All up, Mathews and Chandimal’s partnership was value 139 by tea, they usually had taken Sri Lanka 89 runs ahead with seven wickets in hand. A complete of 110 runs got here in the second session, after 107 had come off the primary, although that was for the lack of three wickets.
Mathews had, earlier than lunch, been briefly troubled by bouncers from the quicks, however as soon as he noticed via that interval, he settled into one among his regular innings, discovering frequent singles sq. of the wicket. He sometimes appeared for the massive photographs as effectively, significantly when a number of dot balls had constructed.
Mathews hit every of the spinners for sixes in the second session, lofting Rehman into the sightscreen first, earlier than launching Qais over long-on a lot later. He acquired to his forty first fifty off the one centesimal ball he confronted, and was 79 not out at tea.
Chandimal was much less reliant on the boundaries, and used his feat properly to create singles, scoring closely in the arc between level and canopy, as effectively as down the bottom. And the place Mathews stayed in his crease even when trying to be extra aggressive, Chandimal got here down the observe to hit out, typically focusing on extensive long-off, and the deep-midwicket boundary at others. He had 68 off 116, with seven boundaries, on the break.
Within the first session, Afghanistan had eliminated Sri Lanka’s prime three, with seamers Naveed Zadran and Nijat Masood in explicit placing in tight spells. Naveed had Nishan Madushka caught glancing to leg slip in the third over of the day, earlier than a Masood bounced Kusal Mendis out for 10; the bouncer, in common, has appeared just like the Afghanistan seamers’ most threatening weapon.
