Shreyas Iyer’s pyrotechnics with the bat drove India to a position of strength after Sri Lanka made early inroads on a spinner-friendly track with the second Test heavily tilting in favour of the hosts, here on Saturday.
The bright afternoon sun in the beginning of the day/night contest did not allow the pink ball to swing enough and trouble the batters but the early and sharp turn on offer made life tough for the Indians, who were tottering at 126 for five at one stage.
Rishabh Pant began the counter-attack with his fiery 36 and Iyer carried forward the recovery work with his scintillating 92 that helped India post a decent 252 in their first innings. Iyer’s entertaining knock, that came off 98 balls and had 10 fours and four sixes, negated all the good work done by the visiting bowlers in the first session when they had taken four wickets, including that of skipper Rohit Sharma (15) and Virat Kohli (23).
