Match Analysis

Sri Lanka shoot themselves by shaking batting line-up

Whatever the end result, Sri Lanka's young batsmen have some distance to go. They had a seaming pitch, and tried to pull a gun on India. They fumbled with the trigger and shot themselves in the kneecap instead

Sri Lanka's day was saved a little bit by Kusal Perera's feisty half-century, though he had also edged to slip in solidarity with his team-mates  •  AFP

Sri Lanka's day was saved a little bit by Kusal Perera's feisty half-century, though he had also edged to slip in solidarity with his team-mates  •  AFP

In the last match, a skilful batsman took leave of the Sri Lanka side. In the first innings at the SSC, Sri Lanka's batsmen took leave of their skill. This flaccid innings, this deflating circus tent of a collapse, deserves reliving. It needs to be savoured as much as any rollicking ton or enthralling spell because it was not just bad, it was so bad it was good.
For so long outsiders had suggested Sri Lanka's batting would be lost without Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. Though the team has protested, vociferously at times, on Sunday they went out to almost willfully prove that they were not just lost, they were like Tom Hanks on Castaway, holding on to the merest shred of hope that they will find their way back one day, but in the meantime going a little insane.
There are so many gems to be uncovered in the post-mortem of the top order's 47 for 6, but the decision to promote Upul Tharanga up the order is, I guess, as crazy a place as any to begin.
Sri Lanka have for some time been planning to provide a green pitch for the SSC Test, partly because they feel they have managed to play the moving ball reasonably well. This line of thinking was not without merit. Sri Lanka had a series victory in England last year, for example, and the batsmen were also good in a recent Test in Pallekele, where both teams had felt compelled to field three quicks.
But the logic veers off a chasm when the opening partnership that negotiated those new-ball spells in England is broken up, and Tharanga is promoted. He's a batsman who could be of great use to Sri Lanka because when he is in flow, no one bats so serenely. But across formats, Tharanga has been consistently suspect against the moving ball.
On Sunday, his bat seemed to be made only of edges. He was dropped by second slip in the first over, had another nick fall short, laced his only runs of the innings through the cordon, until an edge was finally caught in the fifth over. Ishant Sharma may have overstepped during that delivery, but the umpires may have seen that innings and decided being caught in the slips was Tharanga's destiny. Who could blame them?
Kaushal Silva is a man who would never overstay his welcome at a dinner party, because leaving is thing he is great at - the thing he seems to be born to do. Today he left the ball almost aggressively, throwing both hands in the air, wielding the bat like an axe that he is about to bring down on some firewood. Still, he somehow managed to play the ball, and have his stumps disturbed.
Dinesh Chandimal came out at No. 4, having been relieved of the keeping gloves, and batted superbly for 23. He got a rough decision, with the ball that had him lbw probably heading over the stumps. Chandimal seemed annoyed at this, but when your greatest Test innings, had only been made possible by an umpiring blunder, it is probably wise to take the good with the bad. As an aside, it's worth mentioning that as poor as Sri Lanka's top order has been this series, the umpiring has been immeasurably worse, not least because match officials have gone out of their way to ruin spectators' fun.
Lahiru Thirimanne and Dimuth Karunaratne also pushed at balls and were both taken in the slips. The top six batsmen had fallen before the spinners - whom Sri Lanka had played poorly all series - could even be introduced. Sangakkara would at least have waited for R Ashwin to arrive at the crease before presenting his outside edge.
You almost have to admire Sri Lanka's implosion, because while India batsmen had poked and missed at plenty, Sri Lanka's top order seemed to be in the zone when it came to getting just a touch of wood on the ball. They were sublimely effective at having it fly off in unintended directions. Scintillatingly good at being bad.
The day was saved a little bit by Kusal Perera's feisty half-century, though he had also edged a ball to slip in solidarity with his team-mates, and was reprieved by another drop, on 9. Sri Lanka's two best players of the series saved it further, only this time, they did it with the bat, deciding to give themselves something to bowl at, since the batsmen didn't indulge them.
Dhammika Prasad, who had stampeded though the crease in 26 first-innings overs, sore shoulder and all, barely had time to put his feet up in the dressing room before Sri Lanka's batsmen were stampeding right back at him. He was struck painfully on the hand first ball, but returned to the crease to collect more runs than anyone else in the top six managed. Rangana Herath swept and slashed his way to 49.
As bad as Sri Lanka have been for most of Sunday, they are also capable of hurtling to the other end of the spectrum overnight. Sometimes they need a whiff of defeat to inspire them to victory. The scales were not quite even at stumps, but two wickets in the first hour on Monday could make the match interesting.
Whatever the end result, Sri Lanka's young batsmen have some distance to go. Even accounting for Angelo Mathews' P Sara hundred, their first innings have been modest in this series. They were screwed by spin at Galle and the P Sara. With the seaming pitch here, they tried to pull a gun on India. They fumbled with the trigger and shot themselves in the kneecap instead.

Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo's Sri Lanka correspondent. @andrewffernando