Leg-spinner Amit Mishra bagged five of the last six wickets in the Sri Lanka ‘A’ innings to give India ‘A’ a handsome lead of 115 runs on the second day of their four-day first unofficial Test match at the SSC Stadium here today. The 19-year-old Haryana leggie overshadowed the more experienced Sairaj Bahutule as he ran through the hosts’ late order and reduced them from 152 for four to 200 all out, in reply to India’s first innings score of 315. Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 249 for five, India lost all-rounder Jai Prakash Yadav for 69, bowled by Pulasti Gunaratne, who finished with impressive figures of five for 57. Yadav’s 69 contained six boundaries and a six. However, left-hander Parthiv Patel carried on to be the last man out for a well-made 74. Patel and Yadav put on 86 for the sixth wicket. Bahutule and L Balaji were out cheaply, but a 49-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Patel and Mishra aided India cross the 300-run mark. Patel’s 185-ball innings contained seven hits to the fence. For Lanka, all-rounder Dulip Liyanage returned figures of four for 43. Sri Lanka got off to a shaky start, with hard-hitting left-hander Avishka Gunawardena surviving three lbw appeals in the very first over from Balaji. However, he settled down to score early boundaries off the medium pacers, especially left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan and added 48 runs for the opening wicket with Ian Daniel, who was dismissed by Jai Yadav for 15. One down Navid Nawaz followed suit as Sri Lanka were reduced to 55 for two.
