Dhawan hands India upper hand (Tea)

Shikhar Dhawan missed out on a maiden double century as India took the upper hand, piling on 282/2 at tea on the opening day of the first Test against Sri Lanka here on Wednesday.

Dhawan smashed the rather ordinary Lankan bowling all around the Galle International Stadium, racing to 190 runs off 168 deliveries with 31 boundaries studding his hurricane innings.

Dhawan finally fell when he tried to smash a Pradeep delivery over mid-off but mistimed his shot and Angelo Mathews pulled off an easy catch.

Cheteshwar Pujara was also in excellent form and remained unbeaten on 75 at tea. India skipper Virat Kohli was batting on 1 at the other end.

Pacer Nuwan Pradeep was the standout performer among the hapless Lankan bowlers with figures of 2/42. The rest of the Lankan bowling suffered some serious hammering and were made to look rather ordinary.

Brief scores:

India: 282/2 (Shikhar Dhawan 190, Cheteshwar Pujara 75 batting; Nuwan Pradeep 2/42) vs Sri Lanka.

--IANS

ajb/vt