The relaid surface at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) continued to have a big say on the deciding Test, which rolled on with a fluctuating third day dominated by pace. At lunch, Sri Lanka were 47/5 in reply to India's 312; at tea, they had recovered to 175/8, still 137 runs behind India; but when a premature stumps were called owing to a heavy downpour, India had been reduced to 21/3 with a lead of just 132.

 

Summing up India's contrasting fortunes at either end of Saturday were the starkly different look that Cheteshwar Pujara wore when he walked off twice in the day. In the morning, his unbeaten 145 made him the fourth Indian opener to carry his bat through a Test innings; in the evening, his second-ball dismissal for 0 left India somewhat nervous. Nuwan Pradeep then added KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahana to leave India at 7/3, and Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will need to produce something spectacular to revive the innings from here.

 

When India's second innings began, Pujara took strike seemingly because his partner Rahul had been bowled by Dhammika Prasad in the first over previously, but in his second innings of the day he suffered the same fate - bowled by a terrific delivery for 0. Eventually Rahul fell in identical manner as he had on day one, but this time the successful bowler was Pradeep. At 2/2 in 3.2 overs, India had lost plenty of ground from Ishant Sharma's five-wicket haul. That became worse when Pradeep picked up Rahane, out lbw for the second time in the match.

 

This dramatic collapse to pace came shortly after Ishant captured his seventh five-wicket haul in Tests to deliver India a lead of 111 shortly into the final session. Moving from 47/6 just after lunch to 175/8 by tea represented a superb effort from Sri Lanka's lower order, but Ishant extracted Rangana Herath for 49 with his fifth delivery to ensure there was no more grief caused by the adventurous tailender.

 

Like Dhammika Prasad earlier in the match, Ishant carried India all day. He bowled with control, rhythm and pace and figures of 5/54 were superb returns for his hard work - and the best figures by an Indian fast bowler on Sri Lankan soil.

 

With Kohli option for pace throughout the morning session, India had tightened their grip on match with five wickets in 18 overs bowled before lunch. Two of those were aided by umpiring calls in favour of the tourists, but that was not to entirely take away from a spirited bowling performance, in particular from Ishant and Stuart Binny, against a very shaky batting effort.

 

Ishant's first spell (5-1-12-1) was lively and eventful, with three no-balls in the first over and one later on extending to 19 his tally of over-stepping discretions in the series. He should have had the recalled opener Upul Tharanga in his first over butRahul grassed a catch to his right at second slip. Tharanga, on 4, was then caught by Rahul in Ishant's third over, but the TV umpire Raveendra Wimalasiri ruled it out even when replays showed Ishant's foot was on the line.

 

Moment later, 11/1 became 11/2 for when an indecisive Kaushal Silva inside-edged Umesh Yadav onto his stumps for 3. By that time, Ishant had shrugged off his opening over nerves and was bowling a superb rhythm, his wrist position upright and the ball landing on a testing length. The ball was talking to his tune, and the Sri Lankans were feeling the heat.

 

Dinesh Chandimal briefly counter-punched with a series of lovely drives and cuts, as well as a dab over the slips off Ishant, but was cut off on 23 when Rod Tucker upheld an lbw appeal from Binny though replays showed the ball was probably too high. At 40/3 in 11.5 overs, Angelo Mathews found himself at the crease far earlier than he would have liked, and his dismissal to the first ball of a new spell from Ishant, ten minutes before lunch, was credit to the revved-up bowler.

 

The series of poor strokes continued with Dimuth Karunaratne (11) flashing the last ball of the morning to Rahul at second slip to give Binny his best figures in Tests.

 

Ishant rattled Sri Lanka just after the interval, getting the vice-captain Lahiru Thirimanne for 0 and forcing Prasad to retire hurt first ball with a snorter rapping his left hand. Rahul's low take of Thirimanne at second slip was his third and best catch of the day, but he then spilled a straightforward offering to deny Umesh and give the debutant Kusal Perera a life on 9. Perera hit Umesh out of the attack and when the bowler returned, two crunching boundaries helped avoid the follow-on for Sri Lanka.

 

Perera's debut innings of 55 from 56 balls frustrated India, his nine boundaries packing plenty of punch, and the look on Kohli's face after he took the batsman's top edge at mid-off and then football-spiked the ball away with an expletive spoke volumes. The poor umpiring continued with Nigel Llong missing a thick inside edge from Tharindu Kaushal's bat, giving Amit Mishra his first wicket and leaving Sri Lanka eight down. Herath made a pesky 49 full of powerful sweeps and reverse-sweeps, having also gotten under Ishant's skin with a couple of verbal duels.

 

Sri Lanka's impetuous batting highlighted the value of Pujara's excellent unbeaten hundred in the first innings, but at the end of the day it was his absence from the crease that threatened to undo India. They have a handy lead, but Sri Lanka will fancy their chances of a further comeback.

 

Brief scores: India 312 and 21/3 lead Sri Lanka 201 (Kusal Perera 55, Rangana Herath 49, Ishant Sharma 5/54) by 132 runs.

(Times of India)