Arachchige hits 83* as India A toil in Galle

Led by captain Sahan Arachchige's unbeaten 83, Sri Lanka A finished the opening day of the second Unofficial Test on 288/5 after India A were made to work hard for their breakthroughs at Galle. India A, who made three changes by bringing in Aman Mokhade, Zeeshan Ansari and Gurnoor Brar in place of Ayush Pandey, Harsh Dubey and Anshul Kamboj, toiled for wickets throughout the day.

Asked to bat first, Sri Lanka A made a solid start as Pawantha Weerasinghe and Sohan de Livera, one of the three changes, added 53 for the opening wicket. India's first breakthrough came in the 16th over when Yash Thakur dismissed de Livera for 28. Like his opening partner, Weerasinghe too failed to convert his start and fell for 39 to Gurnoor Brar just before Lunch.

Nuwanidu Fernando (44) began the second session positively by striking Brar for two boundaries. He added 57 runs with Ashen Bandara before Saransh Jain broke the stand in the 37th over. The trend of batters failing to cash in after getting set continued when Ashen departed for 34 in the 47th over.

Another productive stand followed, with Arachchige and Anjala Bandara frustrating India A as Sri Lanka A reached 192/4 at Tea. Arachchige looked assured at the crease and brought up his fifty with a boundary off Auqib Nabi in the 64th over. India A had to wait until the 77th over for their next breakthrough, with Saransh bowling Anjala for 42 after the pair had added 99 runs. Arachchige, however, remained untroubled through the final session and finished unbeaten on 83 as Sri Lanka A closed the day on 288/5.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka A 288/5 (Sahan Arachchige 83*, Anjala Bandara 42; Yash Thakur 2-32, Saransh Jain 2-77) vs India A.