Ishant and Yadav put India in charge against Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka were 67 for three at stumps on day four of the third Test against India in Colombo.
COLOMBO (Agencies) - The seamers Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav propelled India to a winning position in the decisive third Test as Sri Lanka, chasing a daunting 386 to win, were struggling on 67 for three at stumps on day four in Colombo.
Sharma removed the opener Upul Tharanga for a duck with just one run on the board, caught behind by Naman Ojha. Yadav had Dimuth Karunaratne caught behind also without scoring, leaving Sri Lanka 2 for two.
Dinesh Chandimal made 18 before being caught in the slip by India’s captain, Virat Kohli, off Sharma with the total on 21. Kaushal Silva (24) and captain Angelo Mathews (22) were batting sharing unbroken 46 runs for the fourth wicket leaving Sri Lanka needing 319 runs to win with seven wickets in hand.
India’s bowlers relentlessly attacked the Sri Lanka batsmen, who were regularly beaten outside the off stump, or if they managed to get bat on ball, edged deliveries short of the fielders.
Earlier, India – batting with a first innings lead of 111 runs – was bowled out for 274 in their second innings, setting Sri Lanka 386 to win the Test and the three-match series, which is level at 1-1.
India lost three wickets for 21 in its second innings but was rescued by Rohit Sharma, who shared 57 runs for the fourth wicket with Kohli (21) and 54 with Stuart Binny, who fell one run short of a half-century.
The No9 Ravichandran Ashwin top-scored for India with 58 and shared 55 runs for the eighth wicket with Amit Mishra, who made 39. Sri Lanka’s seam bowlers Nuwan Pradeep and Dhammika Prasad took four wickets apiece.
The teams were involved in a heated argument in the final over of the India innings. It started when Prasad directed a series of bouncers at the tail-ender Sharma.
During Sri Lanka’s first innings Prasad had injured his hand trying to fend off a bouncer bowled by Sharma.