Initially, the 21-year-old batsman teamed up with Chandimal to string together a stand of 117. Once Mitchell Marsh dislodged the wicket-keeper-batsman with a good length delivery that curled in late, Mendis and de Silva shared a fluent stand of 71 as the No.1 ranked Test side continued to search for answers.
Despite de Silva throwing his wicket away off Lyon in the final session, Mendis stood firm and continued to collect vital runs in the company of lower-order. It was an innings, where Mendis repelled the good deliveries and took his chances against the spin duo of Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe with daring sweep shots to mastermind the turnaround.
As the sound of Mendis's willow on the leather filled the air, Smith's worried demeanour on the field suggested that the match was quickly slipping away from Australia's grasp. The shrill appeals made by the close-in fielders also gave an inkling that the tourists were getting desperate. In an attempt to stem the run-flow, Smith had two fielders positioned at short mid-wicket, but he couldn't stop Mendis from bisecting the gaps with clockwork precision.
The right-hander just seemed to be batting on a different pitch as he played across the line and even upper-cut the likes of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. He soon reached his maiden Test hundred in style, with a six off Lyon in the 43rd over. The visitors were also dealt a blow when the impressive O'Keefe sustained a hamstring injury and had to make his way back to the pavilion.
Incidentally, Mendis's century was reminiscent of Chandimal's unbeaten 169-ball 162 against India in Galle in 2015. On that occasion, the hosts were in arrears by 192 runs and his blistering century propelled Sri Lanka to a come-from-behind 63-run win. This time around, Chandimal had to play the supporting role and to his credit, he grafted his way to a well-constructed innings.
At the start of the day, Australia certainly were in the ascendancy as Starc joined forces with the metronomic Hazlewood to cause problems for the Sri Lankan batsmen in the first hour. The left-arm pacer from New South Wales made an early incision by dismissing Dimuth Karunaratne for a duck for the second time in the match in the first over of the morning. He tempted the 28-year-old batsman with a couple of deliveries that pitched and straightened a touch on the angle before bending one back into the left-hander to trap him right in front.
Karunaratne wasn't convinced about the decision and went for the review, but Hawk-Eye suggested that the ball would have clipped the leg stump. His pace colleague Hazlewood extracted nifty movement off the pitch and produced a couple of edges, but couldn't make the breakthrough.
O'Keefe, who replaced Hazlewood, then broke Kaushal Silva's (7) resolve by dismissing him leg before in the 13th over of the day. In familiar climes for spin bowling, he got one to skid off the surface and Silva's tendency to thrust his front pad led to his dismissal. Curiously, Silva, too, decided to ask for a review, but just like Karunaratne, had to walk back to the pavilion as the ball-tracker reckoned it was clipping leg stump.
It has to be noted that both Sri Lanka and Australia have been poor with their reviews in this Test.
Mendis had to encounter a few nervy moments, especially when he tried to sweep the spin duo, but his stroke-filled knock gave renewed hope for the hosts. More importantly, Mendis also regathered his thoughts quickly after reaching his fifty. The experienced Angelo Mathews (9) ran the opposition ragged by stealing singles and twos as the pair stitched a fine partnership of 40 in testing conditions before Lyon dismissed the Sri Lankan skipper on the brink of lunch break.
On a pitch that is offering uneven bounce and turn, Sri Lanka would fancy their chances of causing an upset. Australia, who were in the ascendancy for the first two days, would be left to ponder what went wrong on the third day.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 117 (Dhananjaya de Silva 24; Nathan Lyon 3-12, Hazlewood 3-20, Steve O'Keefe 2-32) and 282/6 (Kusal Mendis 169* Chandimal 41; Mitchell Starc 2-44) lead Australia 203 (Adam Voges 47, Mitchell Marsh 31; Rangana Herath 4-49, Lakshan Sandakan 4-58) by 196 runs.
Interesting stats for Day 3:
169* by Kusal Mendis is the highest individual score for Sri Lanka against Australia at home in Tests. Kumar Sangakkara's 192 against Australia in Hobart is still the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan against the tourists.
It is also the second highest maiden century by a Sri Lankan in Tests after 201* by Brendon Kuruppu against New Zealand in Colombo (CCC) in 1987.
Mendis became the third Sri Lankan batsman to score a hundred in his first Test against Australia after Romesh Kaluwitharana (132* in Colombo SSC in 1992) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (104* in Galle in 2004).
169* is Mendis's highest individual score in first-class cricket. His only other hundred (108) came for Bloomfield Cricket & Athletic Club against Sri Lanka Ports Authority Cricket Club at the same venue in 2015.
Nathan Lyon became the first off-spinner from Australia to take 200 wickets in Tests. He took 55 matches to reach the landmark. Only Peter Siddle (58) has taken more Tests to achieve the milestone.
28 runs scored by Sri Lanka's top three in this match is the lowest aggregate for them in a Test. Previous lowest was 30 against India in Galle last year.
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