Jadeja's 175 powers India to massive total

For the second day in succession, India's batters put in a strong performance racking up as many as 574/8 before declaring on the second day of the Mohali Test. Leading the way was Ravindra Jadeja with an unbeaten 175, his highest Test score.

Jadeja was involved in three partnerships over hundred - 104 with Rishabh Pant, 130 with Ravichandran Ashwin and 103* with Mohammed Shami. The innings came to an end when Rohit Sharma called his men in minutes before the Tea interval as Shami was tending to blow from a stray throw.

The ninth wicket stand had frustrated Sri Lanka no end, with a bungled run out proving quite costly. Shami was circumspect in the initial phase of his innings, scoring 0 in the first 53 runs of the partnership. Jadeja was untroubled, and clinical as he went past 150 taking on the attack with calculated precision.

Overnight on 45, Jadeja found the going comfortable on the second morning as well. Sri Lanka were left hampered with the unavailability of Lahiru Kumara, who had left the field midway on the first evening, and is expected to be unavailable for the match. Without their frontline enforcer, Sri Lanka struggled to contain a free-flowing partnership.

Even as Jadeja waited to put the bad balls away, he was partnered by an exuberant R Ashwin. The latter found a lot more deliveries on the drivable length, and hit them crisply through cover or straight down the ground as he raced away to a fifty. Jadeja too got his share of boundary balls when Sri Lanka erred in line, going too wide or on his pads allowing him to march towards a hundred with relative ease.

With their 130-run stand, the duo also ensured that for the first time in 22 Tests India went past 400 in their first innings.

Towards the latter half of the session as Jadeja inched closer to his ton, Sri Lanka finally found a way to break through at the other end. Using the short boy ploy with Suranga Lakmal, Sri Lanka saw dividends as Ashwin edged a hook through to the wicketkeeper.

However, Jadeja brought up his hundred soon after pushing India ahead. Jayant Yadav managed only 9 before he was caught at slip against Vishwa Fernando. But Jadeja found an able ally in Shami to take India to a massive first innings total.

Brief Scores: India 574/8 d (Ravindra Jadeja 175*, Rishabh Pant 96, Hanuma Vihari 58, Suranga Lakmal 2-90) vs Sri Lanka