Left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya performed brilliantly and took six wickets in the first innings due to which New Zealand's first innings collapsed for 88 runs on the third day of the second Test match. Sri Lanka thus gained a lead of 514 runs in the first innings and forced the Kiwi team to play follow-on. The match was overshadowed by rain due to which the day's play had to be ended prematurely. By stumps, New Zealand has lost five wickets for 199 runs in the second innings and is still trailing by 315 runs.

By the end of the day's play, wicketkeeper batsman Tom Blundell was present at the crease with 47 runs and Glenn Phillips with 32 runs. In the second innings, Nishan Peiris took three wickets for Sri Lanka, while Prabath and captain Dhananjay de Silva have got one wicket each. New Zealand's position in the match is not good and there is a threat of a big defeat on them.

Could not handle the innings of Conway-Williamson

After poor batting in the first innings, New Zealand did not start well in the second innings as well and Tom Latham was dismissed in the first over without opening the account. However, Devon Conway and Kane Williamson tried to handle the innings to some extent and added 97 runs for the second wicket. Conway hit a half-century during this time, but de Silva broke this partnership by dismissing Conway. Conway returned to the pavilion after scoring 61 runs. Shortly after this, Nishan put New Zealand in trouble by dismissing Williamson (46) and Rachin Ravindra (12).

Prabath spread his magic

After the first match, Prabath spread his magic in the second match too and disrupted New Zealand's innings. New Zealand batsmen were seen struggling on the spin-friendly Galle pitch. New Zealand started the day at 22 runs for two wickets and lost the remaining wickets of the first innings in the morning session due to which the team was reduced to just 88 runs. It is known that Sri Lanka declared the first innings at 602 runs for five wickets.