Sreesanth Back With 5-wickets to Bring India Close to Win

Kanpur: Sri Lanka were 57 for 4 in their second innings, still trailing by 356 runs, against India at stumps on day three of the second Test at Green Park stadium on Thursday.

Thilan Samaraweera (1) and Angelo Matthews (2) were at the crease for the visitors.

India had scored a mammoth 642 in their first innings and had enforced follow on after bundling out Sri Lanka for 229 in their first innings.

Earlier, Sri Lanka was forced to follow on in the second Test after pace bowler S Sreesanth snared 5-75 on day three to help bowl out the visitors for 229 in their first innings on Thursday.

Rattled by Sreesanth, Sri Lanka conceded a 413-run lead after India scored 642 in its first innings, and now must try to survive the remaining seven sessions.

Returning to the Indian team after two years, Sreesanth troubled the Sri Lanka batsmen with his swing to claim five wickets in an innings for only the second time in his 15-Test career.

He dismissed opener Tharanga Paranavitana (38), skipper Kumar Sangakkara (44) and Thilan Samaraweera (2) in the first session. He then added the wickets of Prasanna Jayawardene (39) and Rangana Herath (11) to his haul after lunch.

Debutant left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (2-37) and off spinner Harbhajan Singh (2-54) claimed the other wickets after the tourists resumed at a decent overnight score of 66/1.

Sri Lanka was quickly in trouble on day three, when Sreesanth removed overnight batsmen Paranavitana and Sangakkara.

Paranavitana was caught behind by Mahendra Singh Dhoni after adding just eight runs to his overnight score of 30, while Sangakkara played a seaming Sreesanth delivery onto the stumps.

Brief scores
India: 642 (G Gambhir 167, R Dravid 144, V Sehwag 131, HMRKB Herath 5-121)
Sri Lanka: 229 (DPMD Jayawardene 47, S Sreesanth 5-75) and 57 for 4 (f/o)
Status: Sri Lanka trail by 356