India will be the first to admit that they lucked it out at the SSC ground on Wednesday after weathering a tempestuous storm whipped up by Pasindu Sooriyabandara and Kamindu Mendis on the penultimate day of the second Test.

Trailing by 213 and being asked to follow on by Shubman Gill after being bowled out for 290, the hosts came out all guns blazing, embracing attack as the best form of defence. That paid off handsomely; even though openers Lahiru Udara and Kamil Mishara perished with 63 on the board, Sooriyabandara, primarily, and Mendis set about the Indian bowling with gusto, rendering them toothless on a surface that played a lot truer than anticipated.