COLOMBO, Aug. 25 -- Pasindu Sooriyabandara had built something worth protecting. Eighty runs, 133 balls, nine fours, and the kind of compact technique that had already negotiated Mohammed Siraj's pace and Prasidh Krishna's angles during one of the longer stretches of resistance Sri Lanka could manage against a visiting attack that declared its intentions on day one. A maiden Test century in front of his home crowd was four clean hits away.

Then Ravindra Jadeja bowled a delivery that finished the afternoon.

The ball pitched full on leg stump, Sooriyabandara pushed across the line looking for the on-side, and the inside edge clipped off stump before the opener could shift his weight. He walked off through respectful applause that could no...