India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test, Day 4, Kolkata, live scorecard
End of day's play
An entertaining day of cricket comes to an end. India lead by 49 runs on 171/1
Dhawan misses century by a whisker!
OUT! There is a nick! Dhawan misses out on a ton. What a decision from Nigel Llong. Hardly was there any noise. That too with the crowd making so much noise. A length ball outside off, Dhawan comes down the track and swings hard but misses. Dickwella collects and appeals while Shanaka seems to be certain he has his man. Llong raises his finger and now Dhawan takes the review. Snickometer shows a spike. So India lose a review. Perhaps Dhawan might not have felt the nick. Well played though. Perhaps with the light fading, Dhawan would have wished for the century tonight itself. Hence that type of shot.
50 for Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan joins KL Rahul. What a partnership it has been. Complete contrast to what was seen in the first innings. Dhawan reaches his 4th Test fifty. India marching towards lead.
9th fifty in 11 innings for Kl Rahul
There it is. 9th fifty for KL Rahul in his last 11 innings. Gets to his 10th Test fifty with a flick towards deep mid-wicket. He has really looked good. Controlled shots and not getting carried away is the key. IND: 85/0
Tea on Day 4
Attritional session of Test cricket. One wouldn't be faulted for believing that this game is being played on an altogether different track suddenly. The Indian openers have largely looked untroubled and have managed to string in a yet-unbroken 50-run stand. They have done well to bring the deficit down to 52 runs. The Lankan seamers have failed to be as menacing as they were in the first innings.
Disastrous review
Well there was daylight between bat and ball. God knows what prompted Chandimal to go for the review. The replays confirm that the ball thudded into Dhawan's pads. Indian opners are still undefeated and Sri Lanka lose a review.
Three delightful cover drives
Gamage over ptiches not once but thrice and KL Rahul takes advantage of all of them. That's the Rahul we are used to see. Confident stride towards the ball, covers the swing and lets his bat flow. Three delightful drives for four, two past cover, one to the right of mid off. He means business, that world record of most consecutive fifties is still on by the way.
The Indian second innings begins
The Indian openers make their out to the cnetre with a job on their hands. KL Raul is on pair. How will they approach? Will they go after the bowling and try to knock off the deficit as soon as they can? Try and see whether a competitive target can still be set? Or is it safety first and get some batting practice? The answer is around the corner. Sri Lanka well, of course, will be hoping for wickets... stay tuned.
Sri Lanka 1st innings round-up
The batting has been the story of a fighting stand between Thirimanne and Mathews and then the tremendous knock by Herath towards the end. The former partnership brought Sri Lanka within a chance to take a lead while Herath's knock took that advantage well ahead.
4 wickets each for Bhuvi and Shami while Umesh took 2. But after the early strikes, they would have expected to knock out the Sri Lankans a lot earlier. Shami and Umesh were way too expensive but while the former was unlucky, the latter was inconsistent.
Closing innings down has always been a problem for India and they struggled again. They had the Lankans on the mat at 201/7, with the lead reading 29. But the last 3 wickets added 93. There was a controversial review regarding Dilruwan but the Herath attack was totally unexpected.
Off stump flies and Sri Lanka are all out!
Knocked him over! Straight through Suranga Lakmal. That was too good for a No. 10. Coming in after pitching and crashing onto the stumps before Lakmal could get his bat down. Shami joins Bhuvneshwar in the four-for list. India have bowled Sri Lanka out for 294. But more importantly Sri Lanka lead by 122 runs.
Bhuvi ends Herath's innings
Bhuvneshwar provides respite to India. Herath finds Shami in the deep in his quest of getting some more runs for his team. But he has already done his job, infact more than what Sri Lanka would have hoped for. Sri Lanka's lead is well beyond a 100.
50 for Herath
What a shot to get to a well deserved half century. These runs from Ranagana Herath are absolute from Sri Lanka's point of view. Battin gon 53, he now is the highest individual scorer of this Test match. Now beat that!
Lunch on Day 4
No prizes to guess which team will be happier going into lunch. Despite Shami's outburst (3/85), Sri Lanka have got a healthy lead of 91 thanks to a brilliant cameo by Rangana Herath (43*). They are at 263 for eight, throwing India a tough challenge to save this Test match. Taking nothing away from Shami though, he was brilliant today. With a little bit of luck, he might have picked up a fifer till now.
Shami breaks frustrating stand with a peach
It needed something special and Shami produces one. Perhaps the best ball of the match and mind you there have been plenty of good deliveries in this Test. Pitches around off on the good length, moves just enough to catch Perera in two minds whether to go front or back and the just kisses his bat to give a simple catch to Saha. it was too good a delivery and Gavaskar rightly says that would've got any player out. SL: 244/8
SL lead by 50 now
The Sri Lankan lead is moving forward slowly but steadily, gee Rangana Herath is provig to be thorn in India's flesh. He was beaten all ends up on multiple occasions but the important part is he is still hanging in there and scoring at pretty brisk rate.
Kohli, the bowler
Oh look who's got the ball in his hands! It's baffling to say the least to see Virat Kohli at the top of his mark on a low scoring game.He did complete Shami's pending over yesterday but that was understandable. Anyway, this might just be a one over experiment to change the ends for Jadeja or Umesh.
Jadeja gets the ball
Jadeja comes into the attack in the 61st over. Yes you read that right! A combination of seaming friendly conditions and Shami-Bhuvi's impressive performance has made Jadeja wait. But he finally has the ball in his hand now. Can he clean up the tail to ensure Sri Lanka doesn't go too far ahead?
Brainfade returns
So near yet so far for Shami but better late than never for Perera. Shami spears it on a length outside off, the ball comes in after pitching. Perera plays for the initial line and fails to account for the inward movement. The ball strikes him on the back pad. The Indians are pretty sure and begin celebrating while appealing. The umpire answers in the affirmative. Perera has a look at Herath and walks back without thinking about DRS. Strangely, he decides to take the review and turns around and makes the 'T' sign. Replays roll in. Hawk Eye shows that the impact is outside off and since he was offering a shot there, he is saved. A good use of the review one can say. But further replays show that he actually looked in the direction of the dressing room before opting to review. Now this isn't in the spirit of the game. Remeber Australia captain's rather infamous brainfade in Dharamsala? Kohli was quick to notice it But the Indians and the umpires seem to have missed it this time. Hard to fathom how Mr. Llong missed that as his eyes were always on the batsman. Perera survives and is ready to carry on.
Now it's Chandimal
Oh boy! Shami's on fire. He gets the Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal now. After numerous plays and misses, Chandimal edges one and Saha jumps up in joy after taking a simple catch. Chandimal's misery comes to an end for 28, it took a Shami special. India are right back in it! SL: 201/7
Shanaka sent packing for a duck
Another Sri Lankan batsman offers no shot, another wicket for Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Shanaka is LBW for a duck! India crawling their way back in to match. SL: 201/6, lead by 29 runs.
OUT!
Shami was the one looking like picking up a wicket and he has done exactly that. Hits the deck hard on back of a length, the ball straightens slightly and Dickwella fails to control it, ends up edging it to second slip at Kohli. The wicket-keepr's positive surge comes to an end. SL: 200/5
No swing
Clear indications, there is no swing on offer, the ball coming on to the bat nicely, no lateral movement off the deck.The good part is, India know it. Shami was seen trying out a few bouncers in the previous over. May be it's time to resort to reverse swing or even Ashwin and Jadeja.
1st innings lead after 7 years
Sri Lanka take lead
There it is, Sri Lanka now lead India by 1 run. A shortish delivery from Shami, Dickwella swivels across to pull it down to square leg for 1 run. Now India will have to play catching up.
Shami is up and running
So here's some positive news for India right at the start of Day 4. Mohammed Shami has the ball in his hand to bowl the second over of the day. Remember, there were question marks on his fitness after he went off the field couple of times on Day 3. Like Pujara had confirmed, nothing to worry for India, his first two deliveries almost touched 140.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar will start the proceedings for India.
The players are out in the middle.
Speaking of cricket, this is D Day for India. It is a rare occurance when India find them behind the eight ball in their own backyard and their bowlers need to stand up. Sri Lanka are just 7 runs behind India's first innings total of 172 with six wickets intact on a pitch that is still sending tremors down the batsman's spine. With the Sun baking down, we can expect the spinners to come into action.
Here we are at the Eden Gardnes Kolkata for the live action of Day 4 of what has been an intriguing Test match so far. The rain has threatened but cricket has just started to take the centre stage.
Day 3 Recap
Sun at last shown bright on Eden Gardens to allow almost an enitre day's play on Day 3 but it did not go according to India's plan as Sri Lanka stretched their slight advantage to big one by bowling them out for 172 and then backing up with a strong reply.
The Indian seamers were far from impressive. They leaked runs at 3.6 per over and at one stage were going at more than 4. This is one problem for this side in the long run - if they depend on one or two bowlers to strike and that does not happen, the others seem to struggle. Bhuvi and Shami could not quite provide consistent breaks and the others had no answer to the counter-attack initiated by Thirimanne and Mathews.
Shami's dodgy fitness did not help either. However, Umesh Yadav's late strikes of the well settled Thirimanne and Mathews just after they had reached their fifties gave India a glimmer of hope.