Sri Lanka vs India 2017: 2nd Test day 3, 5 talking points

India dumped Sri Lanka for 183 in the first innings courtesy another fifer from Ravichandran Ashwin but following on, Sri Lanka appeared more determined and willing to fight it out as Kusal Mendis and Dimuth Karunaratne put on a 191-run stand for the second wicket. Mendis, who made 110, fell to Hardik Pandya late in the day to give India some respite but all in all it was a mixed day for the hosts.

That they are all but out of this contest is for sure, but Lanka have a reputation to keep up, which is that of a top tier Test nation, and this kind of performance atleast once in a while is necessary to reinstate that belief.

Brief Scores: India 622, Sri Lanka 183 & 209/2 (Mendis 110, Karunaratne 92*)

Here are the talking points of the day from SSC.

#5 Lanka try the counter-attacking tactic

Mathews tried getting on top of the spinners and succeeded for a bit before Pujara took a blinder to send him back

A frustrated Sri Lankan batting line-up, clueless against the guile of Ashwin and Jadeja on a quickly deteriorating wicket, tried to change their approach and went the counter-attacking way.

Mathews launched Jadeja over mid-on and mid-off in the same over to establish his intentions shortly after Niroshan Dickwella had smashed Ashwin in a similar manner.

But with 622 on the board, the spinners had more than enough freedom to still toss the ball up and did exactly that. Mathews fell soon after to a stunning grab by Cheteshwar Pujara at leg slip and Dhananjaya de Silva followed with a golden duck off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja.

#4 Ravindra Jadeja quickest left-arm spinner to 150 scalps

Jadeja took two in the morning session

Ravindra Jadeja completed a milestone of his own, by becoming the fastest to 150 Test wickets amongst left-arm spinners. He overtook the likes of Vinoo Mankad, Rangana Herath and Bishan Singh Bedi. His 150th wicket was Dhananjaya de Silva, knocked over first ball by a superb delivery that turned across his defensive prod.

Jadeja played the perfect foil to a rampant Ashwin, who completed a five-wicket haul, tucking up Lankan batsmen with his immaculate precision. Ashwin had his 150th in 29 matches, three fewer than Jadeja.

Fastest to 150 Test wickets by Indians:

- Ashwin- 29 matches

- Jadeja - 32 matches

- Prasanna/Kumble - 34 matches

- Harbhajan - 35 matches

- Chandrasekhar - 36 matches

- Kapil Dev - 39 matches

#3 Ashwin completes 26th five-wicket haul

Ashwin bagged another five-wicket haul

The most common sight in World cricket now has to be Ashwin taking a five-wicket haul in Tests. So common has this occurrence been that it no longer seems like headline material. With quite a few lefties in the line-up and a hoard of careless middle-order batsmen, Sri Lanka were asking for trouble when they prepared a rank turner.

Extra cover: Sri Lanka vs India 2017, 2nd Test Day 3 Stats: Ravichandran Ashwin goes past Harbhajan Singh

Ashwin made them pay on day 1 by picking out their openers, both left-handers, before a Pujara blinder gave him a third early on day 3. He cleaned up the tail to complete his 26th five-wicket haul in Tests. While his credentials as a World-class spinner keeps growing, he would need to keep this performance as a benchmark for future overseas tours, especially outside the sub-continent.

#2 Sri Lankan openers continue to swish at thin air

Umesh Yadav cleaned up Tharanga in the third over of the second innings

Sri Lankan openers just can't seem to get things right against the Indians. While Upul Tharanga and Dimuth Karunaratne have altered between playing horrendous shots in this series, there has been the odd defiance, stroke-filled innings from either of them. But they aren't able to string together anything substantial and the middle-order has often been exposed way too early in the innings.

To put things into perspective, Lanka's last few opening stands against India read:

15, 32, 15, 0, 1, 8, 11, 1, 7, 22, 0, 7

Those are dismal numbers that give away Lanka's inability to fight and put up a decent opening stand. In fact, the last time Sri Lankan openers strung together a 100+ stand was in October 2016 against Zimbabwe in Harare. There has been only one other century stand by their openers since January 2015, a shocking stat that reveals Sri Lanka's plight at the moment.

#1 Mendis, Karunaratne put up a defiant show

Sri Lanka finally found their fight through Karunaratne and Mendis

It came too late in the game, with 622 from India matched up poorly by a 183 in the first innings. Following on, Lanka needed to find their fight from somewhere and once again it was Dimuth Karunaratne, quickly establishing himself as a 'second innings only' player, who started the resilient display alongside Kusal Mendis.

The duo put on a defiant 191 for the second wicket against a soft ball which Ashwin and Jadeja failed to find breakthroughs with. The partnership was largely untroubled which brings the question as to where this kind of patience and temperament was in the first innings.