The first innings hero, Ravichandran Ashwin, completed the formalities for India by removing Pradeep by castling him for just 3. Sri Lanka was all out for 367 which means India has to score 176 to win this Test match with two days still remaining.

 

Ravichandran Ashwin (4 for 114) had got 10 wickets in this match. Ashwin figures in this match is 10 for 160.

 

India would not have thought they would be chasing these may when they removed Sangakkara and Mathews before lunch. But what a fightback from Chandimal. India has a mini-session of nine overs to negotiate till stumps.

 

After a partnership of 41 runs off just 8.3 overs between Dinesh Chandimal and Kaushal, Ishant Sharma struck with the new ball luring Kaushal to go at it and was caught behind by Saha for 7.

 

Dinesh Chandimal continues to torment India as he completes his 150. At the end of 80 overs, Sri Lanka leads India by 160. Brilliant effort from Chandimal as Sri Lanka has an outside chance of winning this Test match. For record sake, this is the first 150 from Dinesh Chandimal.

 

Rengana Herath was dismissed by Amit Mishra, who claimed his third wicket in this innings, for just 1. But he held his fort for 15 balls.

 

By taking the catch of Herath, Rahane has become the first man to claim eight catches in a Test.

 

After the tea break, Dinesh Chandimal hit his fourth Test century off just 100 balls with 11 fours and two sixes and along with Mubarak piling pressure on India. With the kind of mood Dinesh Chandimal is in, one thinks that he is playing an innings of his life.

 

Dinesh Chandimal and Jehan Mubarak stitched together a partnership of 82 runs in just 17.5 overs. It was the experienced off-spinner Harbhajan who broke the partnership.

 

Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne struck defiant knocks to help Sri Lanka recover from a precarious position to post 263 for six at tea against a dominating Indian side on Day 3 of the first cricket Test in Galle on Friday.

 

Getting behind a 192-run trail, the clueless hosts were reduced to 95 for five this morning before Chandimal (98 not out) and Thiramanne (44) stitched a crucial 125-run partnership to script a fightback.

 

The Angelo Mathews-led side managed 155 runs in 28 overs in the second session, losing just a single wicket in the form of Thirimanne.

 

India’s star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (3-87) scalped Thirimanne to break the crucial sixth-wicket partnership but Chandimal was unstoppable as he has sticthed another 43-run unbeaten partnership with Jehan Mubarak (23 not out).

 

But it was the Chandimal-Thirimanne partnership that stood out as the duo, which had ridden its luck before lunch, made sure that it made no mistakes in the second session. They came out attacking against the Indian bowlers and didn’t spare either the spinners or the pacers, treating them alike with disdain. They were scoring at more five runs per over immediately from the start and it was the highlight of the post-lunch session.

 

They hit Ashwin and Amit Mishra (2-54) out of the attack as the two conceded 48 runs in nine overs after lunch. In the 40th over of the innings, Chandimal brought up his 9th Test fifty off 48 balls, and still kept up the attack on the bowlers.

 

The Lankan 200-mark came up in the 47th over as Thirimanne-Chandimal celebrated their 100-partnership off only 120 balls. The best part about their partnership being that they didn’t present even the slightest chance to the Indian bowlers, taking the three spinners for 68 runs in 13 overs.

 

If Harbhajan Singh (0-39) looked out of sorts yet again then Ishant Sharma (0-49) looked like picking up a wicket but the batting duo didn’t give a single chance.

 

Scoreboard

 

Sri Lanka 1st innings: 183.

 

India 1st innings: 375.

 

Sri Lanka 2nd innings: Dimuth Karunaratne b Ashwin 0; Kaushal Silva b Mishra 0; Dhamika Prasad c Rahane b Aaron 3; Kumar Sangakkara c Rahane b Ashwin 40; Angelo Mathews c Rahul b Mishra 39; Dinesh Chandimal not out 98; Lahiru Thirimanne c Rahane b Ashwin 44; Jehan Mubarak not out 23;

 

Extras: (B—3, W—8, NB—5) 16

 

Total: (for 6 wkts; 58 overs) 108

 

Fall of wickets: 1—0, 2—1, 3—5, 4—92, 5—95, 6—220

 

Bowling: R Ashwin 21—4—87—3, Amit Mishra 12—1—54—2, Harbhajan Singh 10—0—39—0, Varun Aaron 6—0—31—1, Ishant Sharma 9—0—49—0.

(PTI)