Lunch report: Lower-order contributions keep India afloat

It was a morning full of appeals and close calls. The ball hit the stumps but the bails didn't move, an inside edge that carried but wasn't conclusive enough, and a nick that should have been caught by the umpire but didn't - all of which summed up an unlucky morning session for Sri Lanka.
India needed their lower-order to support overnight batsman Wriddhiman Saha, and even though Ravichandran Ashwin went cheaply, Amit Mishra's useful contribution and Ishant Sharma's stubborn approach took India to 386 for 8 at lunch on Day two of the Colombo Test.
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On a comparatively heavy outfield, runs didn't come thick and fast though. It was more of an overcautious approach with India scoring 67 in 23.4 overs, also an indication how improved Sri Lanka were with the ball. Dhammika Prasad and Angelo Mathews were at it again from the word go, and Dushmantha Chameera was way better than his outing on the first day. Contrary to his wayward line and length a day before, the 23-year-old concentrated more on the fourth stump line outside off and mixed his variations well. By the end, even though he did begin to drift a few down the leg-side, remained much better overall.
Match Scorecard
India's hopes of any resistance from Ashwin suffered a blow in as early as the second over of the day. All those predictions about the offspinner being the answer to India's all-round conundrum went awry once he scooped a simple catch to Kaushal Silva off Mathews. Instead, it was Mishra who held fort, and despite suffering some anxious moments, kept India alive with a 46-run alliance for the seventh wicket.
Giving him company was Saha, who was mostly decisive with his shot making if you are to ignore the wild hoick he attempted off Prasad. It took his inside edge and seemed to have landed safely in wicketkeeper's Dinesh Chandimal's gloves. But the third umpire offered him the benefit of the doubt, and Saha never played a false shot again. His cautious approach fetched him three boundaries and more importantly, helped him keep his wicket intact. The Bengal wicketkeeper-batsman made the most of the lucky escape he had in the first half hour when a Prasad delivery failed to dislodge his bails and got to his second Test fifty just before the break.
Mishra batted with determination. Like a proper top-order batsman, he defended well to begin with, but once the second new ball lost its shine, began throwing his bat at it. Some connected, some didn't. Some even took the inside edge of his bat, but those lapses only helped get India get bit of a move on in terms of the scoring-rate. As Mishra spent more time, his confidence grew, so much that he even reverse-swept Tharindu Kaushal, who continued to offer gifts to the batsmen, for four.
His innings ended when he offered a thin edge to Chameera, who banged it in short and moving slightly away. Ishant then strode out and negotiated the remaining five overs without any further causality.
Brief Score: India 386 for 8 (Wriddhiman Saha 56*, Ishant Sharma 2*)
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