India set 410-run target for Lanka

Wednesday 06th December 2017 07:17 EST
 
 

Sri Lanka began the fourth day at 356 for nine, but could only survive six overs before skipper Dinesh Chandimal went after a wide one from Ishant Sharma. Only 17 runs were added as Chandimal walked back after a valiant 164 off 361 deliveries, thus finishing his team's first innings at 373. India then scored at a brisk pace scoring 246/ 5 dec in 52.2 overs, setting the Lankans a target of 410 runs. SL managed to score 31 at stumps on day four, losing three wickets in the process.

Mohammad Shami was on song during his three-over burst in the final session and it took two brutal bouncers to get rid of opener Sadeera Samarawickrama. With the light fading, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were in business with life getting tougher for Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananajaya de Silva in the middle. Dhananajaya survived courtesy the DRS, after successfully overturning the on-field umpire's decision. In the last over of the day, Jadeja scalped Karunaratne with a flatter one that took a faint edge to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha and two balls later, he knocked over the stumps of night watchman Suranga Lakmal to help India tighten their grip on the match.

Earlier in the day, with a lead of 163, India looked for a brisk second innings and that was evident from the way Murali Vijay cracked a boundary past cover in the first over bowled by Lakmal. Another boundary, this time off an edge, was scored by the opener before he tried to play a good length delivery on the up in the third over. Unfortunately, the ball moved away a tad bit and the edge was taken by Dickwella. By the time lunch was taken, India scored 51, further losing Rahane, who was promoted up the order. Rahane, terribly out of form, looked jittery in the middle. Rahane got two reprieves, but did not mean much to him as he departed scoring 10 runs.

After lunch, Pujara and Dhawan played with positive intent, taking India past the 100-run mark by the 30th over. After the departure of Pujara and Dhawan, Kohli and Sharma then combined to continue India's momentum and put on 90 runs in just 93 deliveries with Kohli compiling his 15th Test fifty before perishing to a wild slog off Gamage. Sharma got to his 8th fifty and Kohli decide to declare.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 31/3 (De Silva 13; Jadeja 2/5) & (Chandimal 164, Mathews 111; Ashwin 3/90) trail India 246/5 dec. (Dhawan 67, Pujara 49; Sanakan 1/30) & 356/7 dec. (Kohli 243, Vijay 155; Sandakan 4/167) by 379 runs.

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Kohli hits 6th double ton

Virat Kohli scored yet another Test double hundred during the third test between India and Sri Lanka and thus becoming the only captain to score 6 double centuries, going past Brian Lara's five. This was his 3rd double ton in 2017. He joins the elite group of players who have scored 200 in consecutive Test innings. Others include Hammond, Bradman, Kambli, Sangakkara, and Clarke. Interestingly, he hadn't scored a single double ton before 2016. Kohli is the quickest to 16,000 international runs, reaching the landmark in 350 innings and is followed by South Africa's Hashim Amla at 363. Kohli is now the fourth fastest Indian to reach 5,000 runs in Test cricket. Kohli needed 105 innings to reach the landmark, while Sunil Gavaskar leads the charts with 95 innings followed by Sehwag at 98 and Sachin at 103.


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