Ashwin finished with figures of 6-46 off 13.4 overs
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India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin sliced through Sri Lanka’s batting line-up with six wickets to leave the hosts reeling at the end of the first day of the first Test in Galle.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews would have been regretting his decision to bat first as he and wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal were the only two batsmen to make valuable contributions.
Mathews made a gutsy 64
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Mathews scored 64 off 92 balls, which included six boundaries and a six, while Chandimal made 59 off 77 deliveries, which included nine boundaries, Besides them, spinner Rangana Herath was the only other batsman to surpass the 20-run mark as he mustered 23 runs before being clean bowled by Ashwin.
Chandimal scored a valiant 59
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Due to their poor batting and Ashwin’s superb bowling, Sri Lanka were skittled out for 186 in just under 50 overs.
Ashwin was easily the pick of the bowlers with his six wickets, while Amit Mishra snapped up two and Varun Aaron and Ishant Sharma chipped in with one wicket apiece.
Trailing by 186 runs, India got off to a horrible start as they lost Lokesh Rahul and Rohit Sharma in quick succession.
However, Shikhar Dhawan and captain Virat Kohli stabilised the innings with an unbeaten 100-run partnership, during which Dhawan brought up his half-century, before stumps was called.
Dhawan finished on 53 off 103 balls, which included six boundaries, while Kohli remained undefeated on 45 off 77 deliveries, which included seven boundaries.
Dhawan hit six boundaries during his unbeaten knock of 53
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Mathews and Dhammika Prasad claimed one wicket each.
India ended day one on 128/2 and will continue batting tomorrow at 10:00 local time or 04:30 GMT.