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Young Indian spin-bowling all-rounder Manav Suthar etched his name in history, surpassing legends Harbhajan Singh and Ravichandran Ashwin to become the bowler with best figures in Sri Lanka. He also became the third Indian bowler after these two legends to register a ten-wicket haul in Sri Lanka.
Suthar achieved this milestone during his side's first Galle Test against Sri Lanka. In the first innings, Suthar secured figures of 4/76, including the prized wicket of their most experienced batter Dinesh Chandimal. In the second innings, more carnage followed as after getting two early wickets, he packed Sri Lanka's lower-order within just 10 balls, ending with figures of 6/55. With the figures of 10/131, he has outdone Harbhajan (10/153 at Galle in 2008) and Ashwin (10/160 at Galle in 2015) to become the third Indian with a ten-fer in Sri Lanka and the Indian bowler with best figures in the country. Coming to the match, India won and elected to bat first, knocks from Devdutt Padikkal (167 in 230 balls, with 15 fours and a six), KL Rahul (82 in 175 balls, with 10 fours and a six) and Dhruv Jurel (51 in 68 balls, with four boundaries and a six) helped them reach 462. Prabath Jayasuriya (4/109) and Keshara Nuwantha (3/175) were among the top bowlers in the first innings. During SL's first innings, they had sunk to 90/5, before a 146-run stand between Niroshan Dickwella (80 in 115 balls, with seven fours) and Sonal Dinusha (100 in 168 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) pulled them out of trouble. Suthar's four-fer and overall exceptional spin bowling from India skittled them out for 284 in reply to India's first innings total of 462, trailing by 178 runs. Sri Lanka's bowling was more clinical in the second innings with only Rishabh Pant (66 in 69 balls, with eight fours and two sixes), Devdutt Padikkal (44 in 75 balls, with six fours) and KL Rahul (35 in 47 balls, with two fours and two sixes) contributing something of note as India was all out for 193 runs, giving SL 372 runs to win. Asitha Fernando (4/31) and Prabath (3/43) were exceptional with the ball. In the second innings, SL were down and out at 47/4, but Dhanajaya de Silva (59 in 151 balls, with seven fours) and Sonal Dinusha (84 in 128 balls, with eight fours and a six) gave them a glimmer of hope with a 91-run stand. After Dinusha fell as the seventh wicket, it was all over for SL as Suthar made SL's lower-order collapse like a pack of cards, bundling them out for 206 runs. SL lost the Test by 165 runs. Prasidh Krishna (2/16 in 10 overs) bowled an exceptional spell of pace, while Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja also got a wicket each. India is 1-0 up in the two-match Test series. (ANI)
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