New Zealand gave a befitting reply to Sri Lanka with half-centuries from Latham-Williamson, Kiwi batsmen dominated on the second day

New Delhi. New Zealand made a strong comeback in the first Test match against Sri Lanka on the back of brilliant half-centuries from veteran batsmen Kane Williamson and Tom Latham. Kiwi batsmen dominated on the second day of the Galle Test. The visiting New Zealand team scored 255 runs for 4 wickets in their first innings at the end of the day’s play. In reply to Sri Lanka’s first innings score of 305, Latham (70) and Devon Conway (17) gave the team a good start by adding 63 runs for the first wicket. Opener Latham also shared a 73-run partnership for the second wicket with Williamson (55). The Kiwi team is now 55 runs behind the total runs scored by Sri Lanka in the first innings while it still has six wickets left.

Tom Latham looked comfortable against spinners before returning to the pavilion on the ball of left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya. He got caught at square leg while trying to sweep Jayasuriya’s ball. Williamson looked in good rhythm but his concentration broke on the score of 55 runs and he got caught by wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis on the ball of Dhananjay de Silva. Rachin Ravindra (39) also missed Dhananjay’s ball completely and got bowled.

Daryl Mitchell (41 not out) and Tom Blundell (18 not out) made an unbroken partnership of 59 runs for the fifth wicket and did not let New Zealand suffer any further setbacks. Earlier, Sri Lanka came to play at 302 runs for seven wickets and were all out for 305 runs. The host team lost its last four wickets for three runs. Fast bowler Will O’Rourke took five wickets for 55 runs. Due to rain, only 4.5 overs were played in the morning session. Asitha Fernando and Ramesh Mendis took one wicket each from Sri Lanka’s side.