NEW DELHI: Kane Williamson, recognized for his poise on the crease, endured a uncommon and irritating third day within the second Check towards Sri Lanka.
Dismissed twice inside simply 4 hours, his uncharacteristic departures left New Zealand reeling on the Galle Worldwide Stadium on Saturday.
The primary of Williamson’s two dismissals got here at round 10:25 AM (IST) in New Zealand’s first innings.
On the final ball of the 17th over, spinner Prabath Jayasuriya delivered a tossed-up ball on off-stump. Williamson, normally adept at taking part in spin, misjudged his ahead defence, taking part in with laborious arms.
The ball took the shoulder of his bat, leading to a easy catch at slip by Dhananjaya de Silva. Williamson, dismissed for simply 7 off 53 balls, lunged too far ahead in an try to smother the spin, a uncommon technical error from the veteran batsman.
Following New Zealand’s collapse to 88 all out of their first innings, they had been pressured to observe on.
Williamson had one other probability on the crease, partnering with Devon Conway in a resilient 97-run stand for the second wicket. This partnership seemed promising as New Zealand aimed to keep away from an innings defeat.
Nonetheless, Williamson’s innings got here to an abrupt finish at 2:15 PM (IST), this time falling for 46. Off-spinner Nishan Peiris tempted Williamson right into a mistimed shot, as he tried to position the ball wider of long-on.
Substitute fielder Ramesh Mendis sprinted and took a surprising reverse-cupped catch, tumbling laborious however holding onto the ball. It marked Williamson’s second dismissal of the day, chopping brief an innings that had the potential for a bigger rating.
Sri Lanka capitalized on these breakthroughs and was 5 wickets away from a complete sequence victory at tea on day 3.
Spinners Jayasuriya and Peiris dominated the day, pushing New Zealand right into a nook as they continued to seek for a manner out of a dire scenario.