Fired-up India sighted their first series win in Sri Lanka in 22 years when the home team’s top order collapsed during the decisive final Test in Colombo yesterday.
Sri Lanka, set a tough victory target of 386, lost three wickets for 21 runs before moving to 67 without further loss by stumps on a tense fourth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club. Tempers flared in the final session, as Ishant Sharma and the Sri Lankan fielders had a heated exchange after Dhammika Prasad bowled three consecutive bouncers to the Indian tailender.
Dinesh Chandimal nudged Sharma with his shoulder, forcing umpires Nigel Llong and Rod Tucker to step in to calm down the players.
Photo: AFP
As Sharma hurried off the field after the Indian innings ended, Prasad sprinted behind him and TV footage showed the two players speaking to each other outside the dressing rooms.
Indian batsman Rohit Sharma, who hit a half-century, played down the on-field tension, saying he saw Ishant Sharma and Prasad chatting over tea after play.
“Such incidents happen,” he said. “They are actually very good friends off the field. I just saw them having tea together after the game, which is good.”
Photo: Reuters
Ishant Sharma, who was fined 65 percent of his match fee for misconduct during the second Test, vented his anger with the ball when Sri Lanka’s second innings began.
The lanky seamer had Upul Tharanga edging his sixth delivery to wicketkeeper Naman Ojha, and Chandimal was caught by skipper Virat Kohli at second slip after the ball bounced out of third slip Lokesh Rahul’s hands.
In between, Umesh Yadav forced Dimuth Karunaratne to edge a catch to Ojha. However, opener Kaushal Silva and skipper Angelo Mathews stemmed the rot with an unbroken 46-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Sri Lanka are to begin the final day’s play today needing 319 more to win in a minimum of 98 overs, with Silva unbeaten on 24 and Mathews on 22.
India have not won a Test series in Sri Lanka since 1993, when Mohammad Azharuddin’s men clinched a 1-0 victory
Resolute batting by India’s lower order had lifted their second innings to 274, with the last six wickets contributing 210 runs after the top four had fallen for 64.
The revival began with a 54-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Rohit Sharma (50) and Stuart Binny (49) before Ravichandran Ashwin smashed 58 to boost the total.
Rohit Sharma gifted his wicket soon after he reached his fourth Test half-century before lunch, hooking Prasad to Nuwan Pradeep on the fine-leg fence.
Binny, who was out first ball in the first innings, missed his own half-century when he edged Prasad to first slip, where Tharanga pounced on a low catch.
Ojha scored 35, but Amit Mishra (39) and Ashwin increased the lead with a 55-run stand for the eighth wicket.
Prasad and Pradeep finished with four wickets each on a seaming pitch where 15 wickets had fallen on the third day. Kohli earlier added 20 runs to his overnight score of one before edging seamer Pradeep to first slip, where Tharanga took the catch on the second attempt.
The dismissal broke a valuable stand of 57 for the fourth wicket between Kohli and Rohit Sharma after India had been reduced to 7-3 on Sunday evening.
Sri Lanka won the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs, but India drew level with a 278-run win in the second Test at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo.
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