India-sl test: ishant’s double strike puts india in command 

India is closing in on what could be its first Test series victory in two years, and its first such victory in Sri Lanka in 22 years. On stumps on Day 4 of the third and final test at

Colombo, Angelo Mathews and Kaushal Silva were still batting with Sri Lanka at 67/3. This after they got India all-out for 274 in the second innings. Sri Lanka are still 319 runs behind, and

India are just seven wickets away from creating history. Earlier in the day, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma resumed the Indian innings at 21/3. On day 3, India had lost three quick wickets

for just seven runs after they got Sri Lanka all-out for 201 and attained a healthy lead of 111 runs on the third day. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma fought the first half-an-hour of play

cautiously before the Indian Test captain pushed at a ball outside the off-stump yet again and got caught at first slip (Upul Tharanga). Just after Rohit Sharma brought up his fifty, he got

caught trying to pull a ball over long-leg. Stuart Binny had lived dangerously throughout his innings. He slashed at three or four deliveries outside the off-stump and got away with

boundaries till lunch. Staurt Binny pushed at a delivery outside the off-stump shortly after lunch and got caught by Tharanga at slip off Dhammika Prasad’s delivery. He was one run short of

his fifty. Debutant Naman Ojha came in and played a temperamentally sound innings until he tried to go for a big shot off Herath’s bowling and got caught in the covers for 35. Amit Mishra

continued his good form from the first innings and had kept the score board ticking. R Ashwin gave good support at the other end. The duo strung a partnership of 55 runs until Mishra got

himself run-out in an unfortunate fashion yet again. Mishra played a shot in the leg side. He thought the ball would easily go past Kaushal Silva at short-leg but Silva very professionally

picked up the ball and hit the stumps with an under-arm throw. R Ashwin continued playing fluently after Tea and brought up his fifth fifty of his career with consecutive fours. Moments

later, Umesh Yadav got caught at deep fine-leg for 4 while trying to pull a  Nuwan Pradeep’s delivery. And in the very next over, Ashwin nicked Prasad’s delivery to the wicket-keeper Kusal

Perera for 58 which ended the Indian innings. India gained a lead of 385 runs. Sri Lanka needed 386 runs to win the third Test and the series. Ishant Sharma struck in the very first over to

get rid of Upul Tharanga for a duck. Sharma bowled a brilliant delivery which just shaped away from the off-stump line and got Tharanga’s edge and presented a simple catch to Naman Ojha. A

couple of overs later, Umesh Yadav found the edge of Dimuth Karunaratne and sent him back for a duck, leaving Sri Lanka in tatters at 2/2. Dinesh Chandimal came in and started playing

aggressively. He hit three boundaries until Ishant Sharma found the edge of his bat and got him out for 18. Angelo Mathews and Kaushal Silva got together and steadied the ship for Sri Lanka.

They respected the good balls and sent the loose deliveries to the boundary put together a decent partnership of 46 runs. Published: 31 Aug 2015, 12:04 PM IST