Sri Lanka 177 for 3 (Karunaratne 77, Madushka 37, Masood 1-29) trail Afghanistan 198 (Rahmat 91, V Fernando 4-51, A Fernando 3-24) by 21 runs
Afghanistan removed Sri Lanka’s top three before lunch, their seamers in particular finding tighter lines and better lengths on the second morning. But the hosts still marched towards a substantial first-innings lead, on a track that seemed settled after the first hour. Sri Lanka now sit 21 runs behind, with seven of their wickets in tact.
Karunaratne had looked dangerous before that, his leg-side game humming, and Afghanistan somewhat at a loss as to how to slow his rate of scoring down. He had begun the day on 42 off 37 balls, and resumed scoring briskly, hitting two fours off the first seven balls he faced to bring up a 35th Test fifty. He struck three further boundaries before he was out trying to hit another one.
Mendis was out for 10, and Masood had reward for his tight bowling on the first evening, and in this session. That over would go on to be a wicket-maiden.
Angelo Mathews batted sensibly for 51 balls before the break, scoring 29 and scoring four boundaries, largely off the bad balls. Dinesh Chandimal was with him at lunch, having made 15 off 25.
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