Lunch India 172 (Pujara 52, Saha 29, Lakmal 4-26) v Sri Lanka
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
With the sun out on the third morning in Kolkata, swing ceased. But on a grassy pitch, Lahiru Gamage and Suranga Lakmal used the prevailing seaming conditions to bowl India out for 172 by lunch. Dilruwan Perera chipped in with a double-wicket over to remove Ravindra Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha, India’s only set batsmen on the third day.
Resuming on 47, Cheteshwar Pujara swept a wayward delivery from Rangana Herath, bowling the second over of the day to help Gamage swap ends, to move to one of his toughest Test fifties at home. The sun came out soon after, and India’s overall outlook seemed brighter.
That was when Pujara erred for the first time this Test, mentally more than in technique. Overhead conditions had improved drastically, but underfoot it remained treacherous. Pujara poked at a full delivery from Gamage, with bat away from pad as opposed to his bat-close-to-body approach over the first two days, possibly aware that swing had ceased. It created a big bat-pad gap. The ball jagged back prodigiously after pitching and uprooted off stump.
Saha, at the other end, displayed terrific awareness of which deliveries to play. He routinely let full, wide balls go, but went after fuller, wider deliveries, hitting six fours in his 29. Along with Jadeja, who also picked only either full or wide deliveries to attack, carried India past 100, their first landmark of the day in a 48-run stand, the highest of the innings.
Dilruwan, introduced in the 44th over, began with non-turning offbreaks on a grassy pitch. He quickly adjusted, under-cutting his offbreaks to generate drift, not spin, to open up the outside edge. Jadeja lofted him for a straight six over long-on, forcing him to drag his length back, allowing enough room to slide balls on.
He was successful almost immediately. Saha yorked himself to a flighted delivery, as the ball drifted on and beat the outside edge. A wicketkeeper’s balance while getting up from his crouching stance is thrown off when a batsman is yorked, making the stumping significantly harder. With the ball pitching just outside off, expected to turn in, Niroshan Dickwella would not even have anticipated the ball to come to him. What seemed a straightforward stumping was understandably fumbled.
That modus operandi continued to work for Dilruwan. He had Jadeja lbw to a ball that slid on to strike his pad before bat. Umpire Joel Wilson’s not-out verdict was overturned on review. Three balls later, Saha top-edged an attempted sweep onto his forearm, which lobbed to slip.
India’s tail swung freely, carrying them from 128 for 8 to 172. Mohammed Shami was last man out, holing out to deep midwicket for a 22-ball 24, which included edges for four on either side behind the wicket.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo