Herath five-for helps Sri Lanka claw back

Rangana Herath bagged a five-for and brought some joy to the Sri Lankan camp by hastening the end of the Indian innings. Trevor Bayliss had said yesterday that he believed the three spinners that Sri Lanka still had a big role to play, and Herath repaid his coach's faith in him, as his wily spin had the Indian lower order floundering.

Herath's flight was always there but today the loop and the dip gained potency and he improved considerably. Herath was lifted by the couple of balls that spun and bounced appreciably in the first session and the amount of spin he found late in the second fast-tracked India's demise.

Till Herath introduced some drama into the game, it was a classic yawn-inducing Test afternoon. However, it began with Rahul Dravid's dismissal. VVS Laxman hit one hard back at Herath, who spilled the catch, and the ball fell on the stumps with Dravid out of the crease at the non-striker's end.

Herath gave Sri Lanka some thing to cheer about by striking with his carrom balls. He removed a clueless MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, and Pragyan Ojha with finger-flicked deliveries that broke back in from outside off to hit the stumps or the pad and lured Zaheer Khan to edge to slip. He finally ended with a five-for as he trapped Sreesanth leg before, with another carrrom ball, that undid the batsman on the backfoot.