Lunch: Sri Lanka 373 and 119 for 4 (de Silva 72*, Chandimal 27*) need another 291 runs to beat India 536 for 7 dec. and 246 for 5 dec.
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
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The morning of Ravindra Jadeja’s 29th birthday was dominated by scrutiny of his front foot. He overstepped twice, while bowling what were India’s only wicket-taking deliveries before lunch on day five. One went unnoticed, and Angelo Mathews departed in the sixth over of the day. Joel Wilson referred the other to the third umpire, who judged what seemed an extremely tight call in the batting team’s favour, and reprieved Dinesh Chandimal in the fourth over before lunch.
That left Sri Lanka the happier side at lunch, with Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva, who made his third Test fifty, keeping alive their hopes of saving the Delhi Test. The pair had added an unbroken 84 in 25 overs for the fifth wicket.
De Silva and Chandimal aren’t strangers to batting together in adversity; last year, they put on 211 to rescue Sri Lanka from 26 for 5 and lead them to what proved a match-winning first-innings total against Australia at the SSC. Here, they batted assuredly on a fifth-day pitch that offered no undue help to the bowlers, whether seam or spin.
Perhaps the two “wicket” balls were the only ones that turned appreciably in the session. Jadeja set Mathews up beautifully. His four previous balls were flat, quick ones on a perfect length, alternating between a roughly middle-and-leg line and an off-stump line. Mathews defended all four off the front foot. The next one was dangled a little slower and wider. Not reading the change in pace, Mathews went too early into his defensive stride, and ended up reaching for the ball, away from his body, and edged to slip.
More to follow…
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo