India assert dominance on day four and edge towards Test series victory

Sport360 staff 16:43 31/08/2015
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  • The Sharmas (top l and r) shone as Ashwin did damage with the bat.

    India require seven wickets on the final day in Colombo to secure a long-awaited Test series success in Sri Lanka.

    India have not won a Test series on the island nation since 1993 but it appears only rain – which has lurked throughout the match – could prevent them from victory after Sri Lanka fell to 67 for three in pursuit of 386.

    Skipper Angelo Mathews and opener Kaushal Silva revived some home hopes in an unbroken 46-run stand after a fired-up Ishant Sharma helped reduce Sri Lanka to 21 for three.

    Ishant had been involved in an altercation with Sri Lanka seamer Dhammika Prasad and Dinesh Chandimal at the end of India’s second innings.

    Prasad had targeted Ishant with the short ball, prompting the tall India quick to tap himself on the helmet, and tempers started to flare moments before Ravichandran Ashwin was the last man to fall with the score on 274.

    Ashwin was the top scorer in the India innings, hitting 58 after coming in at nine, to leave Sri Lanka with a record fourth-innings chase on their home soil.

    The hosts might have taken some comfort in the fact the record was set only last month, when Pakistan chased down 382 with seven wickets in hand at Pallekele, to clinch the series 2-1.

    But their top-order quickly came and went for the second time in the match as Ishant found an effective means to vent his anger.

    Upul Tharanga failed to last his first over before nicking behind and when Dimuth Karunaratne also failed to score, edging Umesh Yadav, Sri Lanka were two for two.

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    shant’s emotions then spilled over when he tempted Chandimal, who had been involved in the earlier fracas, into error and gift Virat Kohli a catch in the cordon.

    Chandimal had raced to 18 but his exit clearly delighted Ishant, who had provoked Sri Lanka’s first-innings demise with figures of five for 54.

    India built their lead in the morning on the back of a Rohit Sharma fifty before he pulled Prasad, who claimed four for 69, straight to Nuwan Pradeep at fine-leg before lunch.

    Pradeep joined Prasad in taking four wickets in the innings but Sri Lanka’s hopes of limiting India’s lead were lost as their middle and lower order made valuable contributions, highlighted by Ashwin’s half-century.

    The final five wickets continued the trend in the match for late runs by adding 156 runs with Stuart Binny falling one run short of his fifty.

    That left Sri Lanka with a tall order to prevent back-to-back series defeats on home soil and, while they then lost their quick wickets, Silva and Mathews batted through until bad light forced the close with 319 runs needed for an unlikely home win on Tuesday.

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