South Africa are on the verge of losing another series in the subcontinent. At the end of day's play Sri Lanka were all over South Africa as they took the lead of 365. This in itself is a huge target but Sri Lanka are just 3 wickets down.
Earlier at the start of day,visitors must have expected to get the last wicket as soon as possible.But it wasn't to be. The last wicket partnership of 76 stretched the scoreboard to 338. Herath and Akila Dananjaya added all those vital runs. Maharaj who already had taken 8 wickets got the better of Herath as he tried to sweep. Edge was found and it carried to leg slip .Maharaj finished the figures of 9 for 129.
The South African batsmen struggled once again. The openers were sent to the pavilion immediately. Herath and Dananjaya were spot on with their bowling. Markram didn't find it easy either and was dismissed. At lunch the scoreboard read 19 for 3.
Come second session and du Plessis showed intent to score. Amla on the other hand struggled against the spinners.But Dilruwan Perera got him out in similar fashion to first test. The ball found the edge of the bat then to pad and then straight into the hands of forward short leg.
In similar way du Plessis trying to be more aggressive got an inside edge to the wicketkeeper. du Plessis took the DRS but to his surprise Ultra-edge picked up a faint edge.Then as expected was a collapse. In just 5 overs they lost their last 5 wickets. Akila Dananjaya took a second fifer.
Sri Lanka denied the follow-on. Both openers got to a blazing start. They were more aggressive in their approach.They used the sweep shot to a good effect. Gunathilaka brought up his another half century.Eventually he was dismissed by Maharaj. The offie got Dhananjaya de Silva trapped in front for a duck.
Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis then settled in. They never allowed South Africa to come back in the game. Karunaratne brought yet another half century his fouth in the series. Kusal Mendis towards the end of game's play was found short of his crease. But that was the last wicket to fall as Mathews and Karunaratne got stuck in the middle.
South Africa are in danger of being clean sweeped tomorrow itself. What are your thoughts??. Let me know in the comments below.