Rain Cuts Short Day 3; India Still Remains In The Driving Seat To Win The Test
They found some stability through Pasindu Sooriyabandara, who scored his maiden Test half-century and went on to make 80. Sonal Dinusha also held firm with an unbeaten 85 at stumps, giving Sri Lanka some resistance after the early setbacks.
XtraTime Newsdesk: Rain brought an early end to Day 3, but India remain firmly in control of the Test, needing just two more wickets to wrap up Sri Lanka. With Lanka still 238 runs behind, captain Shubman Gill has the option of enforcing the follow-on and putting India in a strong position to complete a 2-0 series sweep.
India had earlier declared on 503, with contributions coming throughout the batting order. Devdutt Padikkal led the way with a composed 117 off 193 balls, while Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave India a quick start with 50 and 45 respectively. Rishabh Pant added 63 off 89 balls after briefly retiring hurt following a blow to his forearm. At the other end, Dhruv Jurel remained unbeaten on 115 as India pushed towards a commanding total.
Asitha Fernando was Sri Lanka's most successful bowler, finishing with 4/106 from 29 overs.
Sri Lanka's reply began poorly, with the visitors reduced to 8/2 on Day 2. They found some stability through Pasindu Sooriyabandara, who scored his maiden Test half-century and went on to make 80. Sonal Dinusha also held firm with an unbeaten 85 at stumps, giving Sri Lanka some resistance after the early setbacks.
India's bowlers, however, kept the pressure on. Manav Suthar and Prasidh Krishna took three wickets each, with Suthar finishing with 3/83 and Krishna 3/47. Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja added one wicket apiece.
With only two wickets left, India are now within touching distance of finishing the match. A series win in the final Test would not only complete a clean sweep but also give this Indian side another strong result away from home, building further momentum from the opening match and ending the series on a positive note.