Nathan Lyon praised the performance Dhananjaya de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal after they rescued Sri Lanka on the opening day of its final Australia Test.
The hosts are looking to complete a whitewash in the three-match series, but made a dreadful start as they slipped to 26-5 in Colombo. However, De Silva (116) and Chandimal (64) put together a superb unbeaten partnership of 188 to reach stumps on 214-5.
"Lucky enough to take five early wickets but you should give credit to the two guys batting. They have batted outstandingly and they are in a good partnership," said Lyon, who posted figures of 2-72, with Mitchell Starc taking the other three wickets.
"So we have to come back tomorrow and start the grind again. The game is not out of our depth, that's for sure.
"If you go anywhere in the world and say at stumps 210 for five after them winning the toss and batting first, it's a big tick, so we are in a fight and that's the best thing about it." And Lyon says Sri Lanka's strong partnerships have been key to their dominance of the series.
"I dare say that's a big key why Sri Lanka have been 2-0 up in the series for the ability of their batsmen to bat in partnerships and for a long period of time," he added.
"We have spoken about it and our batsmen have all got their plans to come out in this Test match and hopefully bat long for periods."
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