The first test between India and Sri Lanka ended in a draw as almost two days of play was washed out due to inclement weather, but not before the Indian bowlers pushed the Lankans on the brink of defeat. Bad light came to the rescue of islanders as Indian seamers had reduced the visitors to 75/7, in chase of 231 for victory.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/8) and Mohammed Shami (2/34) had punched two early holes in Lanka innings when they dismissed their openers in similar fashion, reducing them to 2/2 within four overs. After Virat Kohli's century allowed India to declare on 352/8, it was the perfect start they would have hoped for to enforce a result. Umesh Yadav then brought one in to trap Angelo Mathews lbw after tea but skipper Dinesh Chandimal (20) and Niroshan Dickwella (27) stonewalled the bowlers, adding 47 runs for the fifth wicket.
Things heated up when Dickwella was accused of time wasting with Shami giving him an earful following which umpires had to intervene. And then, he produced a ripper to sneak through the defences of Chandimal and the Eden crowd found its voice again. Then an edge from Dickwella didn't carry to the wicketkeeper as shown by the umpire review concluded.
Bhuvneshwar ended Dickwella's resistance and went through the guards of Dilruwan Perera (0) in two successive overs. India were pressing hard for an unlikely win. Sri Lanka, at 75/7, hoping to survive. And they made it through when the umpire Nigel Llong took out the light-meter one last time and calling it a day.
That the match came so close to a nail-biting end was thanks in part to Kohli's 18th Test century, 50th of his international career. The regular flow of wickets had forced Kohli to accelerate as he began pushing for quick runs and boundaries, reaching 104 off 119 with 12 fours and two sixes. He had switched gears after reaching his maiden 50 at Eden Gardens, which came off 80 deliveries. Kohli's next 50 came in just 39 deliveries as India added 101 runs in 19.4 overs.
With a well-set KL Rahul and India's first-innings top-scorer Cheteshwar Pujara in the middle, India would have fancied their chances of enforcing a result but Lakmal threw spanner in the works of their plans in a brilliant spell of seam bowling, landing three telling blows. Rahul played a classy knock on Sunday to wrest control of the Test from Sri Lanka. But Lakmal, who didn't bowl much during Day 4, set up the opener with one that moved away and slipped an in-dipper that went through the gates to crash on the stumps, packing him on 79.
Pujara looked in his elements after grinding it out across the first three days for a memorable 50. Kohli had to go through a nervy phase with the bowlers hitting the deck hard to generate bounce. Lakmal stood out with a brilliant exhibition of seam bowling as he got the better of Pujara three times in a row in the 51st over. And then came the knockout punch. Out of nowhere, Lakmal got one to bounce over Pujara's shoulder who was late in responding to the soaring delivery. The ball flew in front of the gully fielder after taking the shoulder of the bat where Perera leapt to complete an excellent catch, ending Pujara's knock on 22.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 294 & 75/7 (Niroshan Dickwella 27; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4/8) vs India 172 & 352/8d (Virat Kohli 104*, Shikhar Dhawan 94; Dasun Shanaka 3/76, Suranga Lakmal 3/93)
