Tea: India 536 for 7 dec. and 192 for 4 (Rohit 28*, Kohli 25*) lead Sri Lanka 373 (Chandimal 164, Mathews 111, Ashwin 3-90, Ishant 3-98) by 355 runs
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
A half-century from Shikhar Dhawan and a breezy 49 from Cheteshwar Pujara led India’s drive for quick second-innings runs and a likely declaration at the Feroz Shah Kotla. At tea on day four, India had extended their lead to 355, with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma at the crease, having put on 48 at more than a run a ball against Sri Lanka’s spread-out fields.
Having taken the last remaining wicket in the sixth over of the day and secured a 163-run first-innings lead, India came out with clear intent to score quickly. M Vijay, normally so watchful outside off stump, repeatedly looked to drive the new ball on the up, and, having hit two fours in this manner, nicked Suranga Lakmal behind on 9.
Instead of Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane walked in at No. 3, having scored 4, 0, 2 and 1 in his four previous innings in the series. Rahane likes the ball coming on to the bat, so perhaps this was an effort to have him face a harder, newer ball than normal. The experiment didn’t come off. He struggled to middle the ball in his 37-ball innings, as a control percentage of 64 would suggest, and survived two close lbw shouts before holing out while looking to hit Dilruwan Perera over long-on.
Pujara was the freer-scoring batsman in his third-wicket partnership of 77 with Dhawan. He came out full of urgent intent and was typically twinkle-toed against the spinners, stepping out frequently, working the ball into gaps, often calling “two” loudly as soon as he had hit the ball. He hit successive fours of Dilruwan early in his innings, an off-drive and a square-cut, and went to lunch batting on 17 off 15 balls. He found the boundary three more times after lunch before he was caught at slip off Dhananjaya de Silva, playing for turn when the ball went on with the round-the-wicket angle.
As in the second innings in Kolkata, Dhawan took his time initially and switched gears effortlessly to reduce the gap between runs and balls. It took him 63 balls to hit his first four, a late-cut off Dilruwan, but the boundaries flowed thereafter, as he stepped out against the quicks, went over the top against the spinners – bringing up his fifty with a straight six off Lakshan Sandakan – and, as always, scored heavily square of the wicket on the off side. As in Kolkata, he seemed set for a century when he was dismissed, beaten by Sandakan’s turn when he danced down the pitch and went for a big hit.
Once again, a number of Sri Lanka’s fielders came out wearing face masks on another smoggy Delhi day. Lakmal in particular struggled with the pollution in the first session; he vomited on the field and went off briefly before coming back and continuing to bowl.
In the morning, Dinesh Chandimal extended his score from an overnight 147 to a career-best 164 before becoming the last man out in Sri Lanka’s first innings. He added 30 for the last wicket with Lakshan Sandakan, who ended up unbeaten on 0 off 20 balls. The No. 11 was beaten multiple times by Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, but defended stoutly when the line was on the stumps.
Chandimal went for his shots, and picked up three fours in the morning, two of them with cuts and uppercuts. That shot, in the end, cost him his wicket, as he sliced Ishant straight to Shikhar Dhawan at third man.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo