India vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Day 5, live scorecard
Karunaratne plays on
What are the Sri Lankan batsmen doing? After Sadeera, now Karunaratne chops onto his stumps. Shami the man and India are on top, is there a possibility of victory? SL: 2/2
Bhuvi strikes in the first over
BOWLED! What a start for India, this Test is match still alive. Bhuvneshwar knocks over Sadeera Samarawickrama for a duck. That was a nothing short really, he drags a delivery which was well outside the off stump. The Indians are ecstatic. SL: 0/1
The Sri Lankan openers need to bat out the new ball in order to deny India a foot in the door of victory.
India decalre with a 230-run
India have declared with a lead of 230! That was quite obvious, they were waiting for the captain to get to his century and now Sri Lanka need 231 runs to win, more importantly they have to bat out 46 overs but with the fading light there is a possibility of only 30 overs being bowled.
Test century No. 18, international century No. 50
What a man, what a player! The Eden crowd rises for Virat Kohli. The Indian captain has raced to his 18th Test ton and in what style. He dances down the track to Sri Lanka's best bowler - Lakmal and thrashes him over covers for a six and jumps in joy.
Gamage strikes
Bhuvneshwar perishes in quest of quick runs, Gamage gets him with a short delivery. India's approach suggests the declaration is just around corner. A 200-run lead should be enough to put them in safety.
Thank heavens for DRS
The huge cheers reverberating on the ground signals the decision - NOT OUT! Yes, Kohli survives. Yes, an inside edge is the savior. Lakmal spears this full around off and middle, Kohli looks to flick but misses and gets rapped on the pads. Looks plumb to the naked eye but the replays reveal the inside edge.
Saha is out!
The third umpire had a long and hard look at it and in the end he was convinced that Shanaka had something behind the line. That was marginal but Saha has to go for 5. Saha plays the cover drive uppishly and it's a good diving catch from Sadeera. Well, is a there possibilty of a result in this Test match? India are now seven down with a lead of 159 with a session and a half to go.
BOWLED!
Right through the gate! It's a fast bowler's dream to uproot the middle stump of a batsman and Dasun Shanaka has done exactly that. Fuller length delivery,comes in slightly to expose the gap between bat and pad of Ashwin and crashes onto the the middle stump. Sri Lanka contunue to chip away with wickets to strangle India. IND: 269/6
50 for Kohli
15th Test half century for the Indian captain and he gets there with a nice flick shot for four. It has been a controlled innings, mixed with caution and aggression. Will he get to his 50th interantional hundred? We'll have to wait and watch.
That's lunch on Day 5
Lakmal bowls a maiden and that will be lunch on the final day of the first Test. The session belonged to Sri Lanka again and it was Suranga Lakmal who bagged a six-wicket haul in a Test match for the first time in his career. His three wickets in the morning included KL Rahul (79), Cheteshwar Pujara (22) and Ajinkya Rahane (0). For India, captain Virat Kohli stood tall, battling his way to 41. India have taken a lead of 129 runs, far less then what they would have liked to force a result. The match is fast approaching a draw but the first hour after lunch will give a clearer picture.
Perera gets Jadeja
Well the Jadeja experiment did not go according to plan. The way Jadeja batted for his 41 ball 9, makes you wonder whether there was any plan behind his promotion in the first place itself. Perera's flatter one kicks off good length and the Indian all-rounder fails to control it. He went for the cut but ended up getting an outside edge to first slip, Thirimanne holds on. IND: 249/5
Rahane out for duck!
The decision stays as it is! Umpire's call it is. A length ball outside off, comes back in a long way, Rahane looks to work it to the leg side but misses and is hit on the pads. Lakmal appeals, it looks good enough and umpire Wilson raises his finger! Rahane walks over to Kohli and has a long chat. Eventually he decides to review and Hawk Eye shows it to be clipping the top of the stumps, which means umpire's call. India do not lose a review but they do lose Rahane for a blob. The match is opening up. India are effectively 91/4!
Pujara departs
That was a snorter from Lakmal. It just took off from good length, Pujara fends, the ball lobs up in the air and Perera takes a good diving catch behind the stumps. Pujara has to go for 22. IND: 213/2
Kohli is off the mark
A little streaky but four runs none the less and more importantly Virat Kohli is off the mark. He was on a pair. Lakmal slides down the leg side and Kohli gloves it, it's baffling that Dickwella did not go for the catch, the ball races away to the fine leg boundary for a four.
Rahul falls
Gap between bat and pad and that's enough for Lakmal to knock down Rahul's middle stump. The talented Karnataka batsman misses out on yet another hundred after looking so good for his 79. But Sri Lanka won't complain, they have struck early on all 4 days in which they have bowled to India. IND: 192/2
Day 5 begins
KL Rahul and (73*) and Cheteshwar Pujara (2*) are out in the middle. Rahul will look to break his half-cenutry deadlock and convert this into a hundred while Cheteshwar Pujara has a record of his own to deal with. He willl become only the third Indian to bat on all five days of a Test match.
Welcome to the live coverage of Day 5, still a lot to play for in this Test match even though odds are in favour of a draw. If India can manage to score quick runs and give Sri Lanka 40 overs to bat then who knows, anything can happen. But as of now, draw looks the lightly outcome of what has been a very good Test match despite rain playing the vilain's role.
Day 4 recap
If the first three days of the Test match belonged to the bowlers then the batsmen made a roaring comeback on Day 4 with Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan (94) and KL Rahul (73*) exposing the loopholes in the Sri Lankan bowling attack after the Eden track eased out under the baking sun.
India covered Sri Lanka's 122-run lead first innings in no time and took a 49-run when they went to stumps at 171 for 1, brushing aside all jitters of the first innings.
Earlier, it was Sri Lanka's No. 7 Rangana Herath, who stretched not stretched the vistors' first innings to a healthy 122 by slamming a fluent 67.
Indian seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami picked up four wickets a piece giving good account of their ability to pick up wickets even when the pitch had stopped assisting seam bowlers.