Sri Lanka take firm control as Mendis, Dinusha shine before Fernando's late strike on Day 2

West Indies finished Day 2 of the second Test on 58/1, trailing by 491 runs after Sri Lanka posted a massive score of 549/9 in their first innings. After Lahiru Udara’s magnificent century on the first day, Sonal Dinusha (92) and Kusal Mendis (69) helped Sri Lanka extend their first innings advantage on the second day. 

Sri Lanka resumed their innings on 338/5 with Mendis (0*) and Dinusha (5*) at the crease. The duo got up and running from the very first over of the day as Dinusha hit Alzarri Joseph for a boundary. At the other end, Kusal Mendis also got off the mark on his 13^th ball with a gorgeous boundary straight down the ground.

The duo continued to find the fence and kept the scoreboard moving at a rapid pace. Mendis was even given a reprieve on 25 as John Campbell put him down at first slip after Shamar Joseph found his outside edge. He made full use of it and helped Sri Lanka get past the 400-run mark, bringing up his half-century stand alongside Dinusha as they went into lunch on the score of 402/5. 

In the second session, the duo continued to deal in boundaries as Dinusha brought up his maiden Test fifty, extending their sixth wicket partnership to 100 runs. At the other end, Kusal Mendis also brought up his 23rd half-century in style by flicking Alzarri Joseph for a maximum.

Dinusha misses out on maiden century

Both batters began to accelerate after completing their respective landmarks until Anderson Philip helped West Indies get their first success of the day by destroying Kusal Mendis’ stumps. As a result, the 143-run stand for the sixth wicket was finally brought to an end.

However, Dinusha was in no mood to stop and was gradually marching towards his maiden Test century as Sri Lanka crossed the 500-run mark. The 25-year-old moved into the 90s with successive boundaries against Kavem Hodge but got a leading edge trying to hit his third one and got caught at over on 92.

Sonal Dinusha walked back to the pavilion extremely disappointed, and Sri Lanka eventually declared their innings in the third session on 549/9. Trailing by a massive score, West Indies got off to a positive start to their innings with openers John Campbell (31*) and Brandon King (17*) adding 32 runs in eight overs. 

Asitha Fernando strikes late in the day

However, Asitha Fernando ensured Sri Lanka didn’t go into stumps empty-handed as he found Brandon King’s outside edge, which carried to Kamindu Mendis at second slip.

Sri Lanka almost had their second success before stumps, but Sonal Dinusha failed to latch on to a difficult chance of Kavem Hodge diving forward at deep backward square leg. As a result, West Indies finished the day on 58/1 with John Campbell (31*) and Kavem Hodge (6*) at the crease.