At the end of another engrossing day at the SSC, India find themselves seven wickets away from achieving just their second Test series win on Sri Lankan soil, and first away from home in more than four years. Set a huge target of 386, Sri Lanka slumped to 21/3 in the face of a hostile spell from Ishant Sharma, who took his match tally to seven wickets, and by stumps had reached some sort of stability at 67/3. 

 

The highest target achieved at the SSC is the 326 which Sri Lanka chased down against Zimbabwe in 1998, and that looks to remain intact unless Angelo Mathews and his batting partners can conjure up a miracle.

 

Sri Lanka's reply to a massive target began with the obligatory early wicket, this one being the woeful Upul Tharanga who edged Ishant for 0, the second time in the match he fell to the bowler. That became 2/2 when Dimuth Karunaratne nibbled at one angling across him, giving Naman Ojha his second catch and Umesh Yadav a wicket. Dinesh Chandimal had been part of a heated altercation between Ishant and Dhammika Prasad earlier in the session, and when he poked to slips it elicited the wildest of emotions from Ishant. If the Sri Lankans had intended to get under Ishant's skin when he was batting at No 11, they were left to rue that decision after his fiery burst. 

 

Like the previous two, this too was a day of mixed fortunes. India's progress from an overnight 21/3 to 274, and thus a lead of 385, was not smooth but they were lifted in fits and starts. Particularly impressive was how Stuart Binny (49), Amit Mishra (39) and R Ashwin (58) contributed vital runs after the specialist batsman either failed to get going or squandered starts. Sri Lanka were carried by their two fast bowlers, Prasad and Nuwan Pradeep, who each took four wickets as the SSC pitch started to ease out on the fourth day. 

 

On a stinking humid day, Mathews had little option but to use his bowlers in short spells. Three of his many rotations produced wickets in quick time, none faster than the two balls it took Pradeep get Virat Kohli caught behind in the morning and Prasad to remove Binny for 49 post lunch. Prasad's second wicket, that of Rohit Sharma for 50 just 17 minutes before lunch, had come in the third over of his third spell. 

 

India would have hoped for sizeable partnerships to carry them through the fourth day. They did not materialise, but a string of 57, 54 and 42 in a row meant that Sri Lanka were kept at arm's length from running through the lineup. Recovering from an overnight 21/3 with 111 runs scored in the first session was critical to India regaining lost ground, but equally important was Mishra and Ashwin buckling down once Binny and Naman Ojha (35) fell post lunch. 

 

In the morning, Kohli and Rohit had played sensibly to deny Sri Lanka an early wicket or two, which has been India's undoing too often in the series, and saw out the first hour. Facing spin as early as the sixth over played into the batsmen's hands, because it was pace that had produced the faulty strokes. Rohit was beaten by Prasad on the drive early on and struck on the front pad when misreading the inwards movement, then edged Mathews between slips and gully. Mathews also had two very good appeals turned down against Rohit. 

 

India scored 43 in the first hour's play, steady progress given the overnight position, but on the second ball of a new spell from Pradeep, Kohli reached out and edged to slip. A crucial period followed, dominated by Binny who hit Pradeep out of the attack with some crisp boundaries and then slashed Prasad for two fours. With these brazen shots, Binny shifted whatever momentum Sri Lanka had gained from Kohli's dismissal. He should have been out on 25, but Kusal Perera missed an easy stumping when Binny charged out to Herath. 

 

Almost true to reputation, once he entered the final 20 minutes of the session Rohit chose another inopportune time to fall. On 50, he miscued a short ball from Prasad to Pradeep at fine leg. Binny curbed his enthusiasm thereon, holding firm with Ojha to take the score to 132/5 by lunch, and not surprisingly it was Prasad who snapped the partnership with the second ball of a new spell, with Binny (49) poking to slip where he was well held by Tharanga. 

 

Ojha played smartly, keeping the ball on the ground until he swiped at Herath that lobbed straight to cover. Sri Lanka had an opening, but Mishra and Ashwin closed that. Mishra's 39 was his second vital contribution with the bat in this Test, while Ashwin's 58 came after an underwhelming tour, with scores of 7, 3, 2 and 19 not buttressing India's five-bowler approach. The hallmark of it was some silken off-side play reminiscent of VVS Laxman, which helped the last two wickets inject 40 to the total. 

 

Brief scores: Sri Lanka 201 and 67/3 need 319 runs to beat India 312 and 274 (Ashwin 58, Rohit 50, Pradeep 4/62, Prasad 4/69)

(The Times of India)