Lunch report: Ashwin gets India closer to victory

Ravichandran Ashwin's 12th five-wicket-haul hampered Sri Lanka's ambitions of escaping the Colombo Test with a draw. Ashwin's 5 for 42 helped India pick up seven wickets for 58 runs in the morning session to restrict Sri Lanka to 130 for 9 before a brief spell of rain resulted in early lunch. Ashwin's effort was backed by Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra, who also chipped away with wickets.
India have easily been the superior of the two sides - their batsmen putting up a total above 300 in both innings, backed equally well by the bowlers in the second. The highest fourth-innings total at the P Sara Oval is 352, and Sri Lanka, resuming on 72 for 2, required a monumental effort from their skipper and first-innings centurion Angelo Mathews to carry forward the good work. But a nick from to Umesh off the first delivery thwarted any such hopes.
One can say the first ball set the tone for the remainder of the day. Virat Kohli's move of handing the ball to Umesh was a wonderful move - after all, he had troubled Mathews in the first innings once the ball had started to reverse. His dismissal triggered a collapse of sorts as the next six batsmen went inside 20 overs, and with Mishra and Ishant snaring Dinesh Chandimal and Jehan Mubarak, the platform was set for Ashwin's offspin to wrap up the proceedings.
Ashwin's first five-wicket-haul against Sri Lanka was his 12th in Tests. The amount of turn Mishra generated with the dismissal of Chandimal - bowled around his legs, immediately prompted Kohli to turn to his leading spinner. Ashwin first removed Thirimanne thanks to a sharp catch from Cheteshwar Pujara at forward short-leg, and later got the better of Dhammika Prasad and Dimuth Karunaratne.
For Sri Lanka, only Karunaratne provided little resistance with 46.
Brief Score: Sri Lanka 130/9 (Karunaratne; Ashwin 5/42) need 283 runs to win against India (393 and 325)
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