Delhi: India tightened their grip on the Test match after they picked three picked three wickets to leave Sri Lanka reeling at 31/3, chasing a massive 410 at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Tuesday.
Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal, who had waged a lone battle at the end of the third day ended up with a magnificent 164 of 361 balls with Sri Lanka being bowled out for 373 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishant Sharma took three scalps each while Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami got two each.
With a healthy 163-run lead, the Indians further looked to continue their domination with the willow. Murali Vijay, who made a stylish 155 in the first innings was sent back by Suranga Lakmal for just 9 runs. The situation was perfect for someone like Ajinkya Rahane, who hasn’t been successful with the bat of late. Although he was promoted to bat at number three, his woes continued as he was dismissed for a meagre 10 runs. Shikhar Dhawan scored 67 handy runs.
But if there’s someone who’s in scintillating touch, it is the Indian captain. After having scored a majestic 243 in the first innings, Kohli went on to score 50 runs, to make it to a total of 293 runs in the match and 610, in the entire series so far. The 29-year-old surpassed the legendary Sunil Gavaskar who had scored 289 runs (107 and 182 n.o) against West Indies in the 1978-1979 Test match in Kolkata.
He also became the second Indian captain after Gavaskar to have scored a double hundred and a fifty in the same match. The Mumbai batsman had scored 205 & 73 against the West Indies at Mumbai in 1978-79.
Rohit Sharma (50 n.o), who too has had a good time in the whites for India scored his registered his fifth consecutive fifty-plus score.
However, Sri Lankan skipper Chandimal right away would again be the main man to watch out for on the final day, if the visitors have to pull off a draw.
Brief scores–
Sri Lanka- 373 all out and 31/3 (Dhananjay De Silva 13 n.o, Dimuth Karunaratne 13; Ravindra Jadeja 2/5) trail India 536/7 and 246/5 (Shikhar Dhawan 67, Virat Kohli 50; Dhananjaya De Silva 1/31) by 379 runs