Dinesh Chandimal’s maiden double century and debutant Prabhat Jayasuriya’s 12-wicket haul helped Sri Lanka beat Australia by an innings and 39 runs in the second Test on Monday.
Chandimal scored an unbeaten 206 in Sri Lanka’s 554 as the hosts took a 190 in the first innings lead in Galle.
Left-arm spinner Jayasuriya then took six wickets to help bowl Australia out for 151 in the final session as the hosts returned from their opening loss to finish the series 1-1.
The tourists scored 364 runs in the first innings with Steve Smith’s unbeaten 145 but their batting faltered in the second.
Off-spinner Ramesh Mendis dismissed David Warner lbw for 24 before tea and Jayasuriya soon struck with his left-arm spin in the final session to stun the opposition batting in an over by Usman Khawaja (29) and Steve Smith (0). Sent back to dodge. ,
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The 30-year-old Jayasuriya, who claimed six wickets in the first innings, kept the charge with another twin strike to expose the Australian tail.
Ramesh and debutant spinner Mahesh Thekshana took two wickets each and Jayasuriya took the final wicket for celebration in the Sri Lankan camp and crowd.
Jayasuriya’s match figures of 12-177 are the best by a Sri Lankan bowler on debut as he was better than Praveen Jayawickrama, who took 11 wickets in his first Test last year.
But Chandimal set up victory after attacking the opposition bowlers, his last 47 runs coming off just 28 balls.
The 32-year-old Chandimal went past 200 with fours and two sixes in successive deliveries from left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc and jumped happily to applause from the crowd.
Starc took four wickets while leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson took three.
The hosts started the day 431-6 in reply to Australia’s first innings 364.
Opener Pathum Nisanka was on Monday ruled out of play with Covid-19, becoming the sixth Sri Lankan player to contract the virus during the past two weeks.
The overnight pair of Chandimal and Ramesh put on 68 runs before Starc broke down.
Chandimal, who recorded his 13th Test century on Sunday, faced opposition bowlers after losing Jayasuriya for zero as he went past his previous best of 164.
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