Karunaratne, Chandimal raise fifties during century stand to make NZ sweat

Sri Lanka 134 for 1 (Karunaratne 72*, Chandimal 54*, O’Rourke 1-17) and 305 lead New Zealand 340 (Latham 70, Mitchell 57, Jayasuriya 4-136) by 99 runs

Their partnership stood at 128 at the break, though it wasn’t without its perils. Chandimal top-edged two sweeps to safety, while Karunaratne also had a bat-pad chance and a scuffed paddle sweep go into empty space. But those were acceptable risks as far as Sri Lanka were concerned, as they sought to nullify New Zealand’s attack with a combination of discipline and proactiveness.

The discipline came in the early part of the session, as New Zealand peppered good lines and lengths outside off. Time and again, though, both batters – and particularly Karunaratne – refused to engage. When the lines were tightened to go closer to off, he was equally adept at either going back or reaching the pitch to defend. It helped that the degree of turn on offer also seemed to be not as much as that seen on days one and two.

Chandimal, while not as comfortable defending, sought other methods – primarily the sweep and the reverse sweep – to shift the pressure whenever the bowlers sought to settle into a rhythm. He was even keen to use his feet and work the ball square and in the V down the ground. Both Chandimal and Karunaratne were also swift in punishing anything dragged short, as Karunaratne’s most productive shot, in fact, was the cut.

While boundaries weren’t a feature of either of their innings, they were used as a tool to relieve any building pressure. But for the most part, it was clever manoeuvring for ones and twos that ensured the pressure valve never reached uncomfortable levels. Karunaratne’s fifty was also a much-needed one, as his last three innings had all been single-digit affairs.

Sri Lanka will now badly want this stand to continue for as long as possible, so as to cement a resurgent day that had begun with them grabbing the final six New Zealand wickets for just 89 runs inside the morning session.

It’s an outcome Sri Lanka would have snapped up if it were offered to them at the start of the day, one which New Zealand had begun 50 runs behind with six wickets in hand. But by the innings’ close, you wouldn’t have begrudged them a feeling of mild disappointment at having given the visitors so many.