Ashwin excelled with both the bat and ball

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin scored 54 and then proceeded to take two wickets as Sri Lanka struggled for the second day in a row in Colombo.

Ashwin was not the only player to score a fifty on the second day of the second Test as wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja made 67 and 70 not out respectively.

Starting off the day on 344/3, India only added six runs to their overnight score before batsman Cheteshwar Pujara was given out lbw off the bowling of Dimuth Karunaratne for 133, which came off 232 balls and included 11 boundaries and a six.

Ajinkya Rahane and Ashwin made up for the early loss of Pujara with a 63-run partnership before Rahane was stumped by Niroshan Dickwella off the bowling of debutant Malinda Pushpakumara for 132 off 222 deliveries, which included 14 boundaries.

Ashwin went on to make 54 off 92 balls, which included five boundaries and a six, before he was clean bowled by Rangana Herath.

Hardik Pandya fell after making a quickfire 20, but Saha and Jadeja steadied things with a 72-run partnership before Saha was stumped by Dickwella off the bowling of Herath for 67 off 134 balls, which included four boundaries and a six.

Saha scored his fifth Test fifty

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Mohammed Shami chipped in with 19 runs, while Jadeja ended up making 70 not out, which came off 85 deliveries and included four boundaries and three sixes, before India declared on 622/9, which is the third-largest total made by a visiting team in Sri Lanka.

Jadeja struck his eighth half-century in Test cricket

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Herath was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets, while Pushpakumara snapped up two, and Karunaratne and Dilruwan Perera chipped in with one wicket apiece.

Trailing by 622 runs, Sri Lanka lost their first wicket on the 11th ball of the innings when opener Upul Tharanga was dismissed by Ashwin for a duck.

Not long after, Karunaratne became Ashwin’s second victim when he was caught by Rahane at first slip for 25.

Kusal Mendis and captain Dinesh Chandimal ensured Sri Lanka lost no more wickets as they amassed an unbeaten 17-run partnership before stumps was called.

Mendis finished on 16 off 48 balls, which included three boundaries, while Chandimal remained undefeated on eight off 21 deliveries, which included a six.

Ashwin was the only bowler to take any wickets.

Sri Lanka ended day two on 50/2 and will continue batting on Saturday at 10:00 local time or 04:30 GMT.