India's pace spearhead Ishant Sharma was involved in a heated exchange of words with counterpart Dhammika Prasad at the fag end of the second innings before the visitors set Lanka a stiff target of 386 runs in the series decider.
Fired up by the incident, Ishant dented Lanka early, reducing the hosts to 67/3 at stumps on Day 4.
Lankan fast bowler Dhammika Prasad directed a flurry of bouncers at the lanky Indian pacer.
And Ishant had something 'interesting' to say to the Lankan fast bowler that triggered the exchange.
More glares from the bowler and Ashwin went up to have a word with Ishant.
The umpires had to intervene and separate the two.
Umpire Llong had a long chat with skippper Angelo Mathews.
Dhammika definitely lost his cool there, what did Ishant tell to make the bowler to lose his cool?
Chasing 386 in their first Test since batting great Kumar Sangakkara retired, Sri Lanka lost opener Upul Tharanga in the first over and were reeling at 67-3 at the close.
Sri Lanka wobbled early in their chase with Ishant Sharma dismissing Tharanga before Umesh Yadav sent back Dimuth Karunaratne -- both caught by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha for nought.
Opener Kaushal Silva (24) and skipper Angelo Mathews (22) were at the crease with the hosts still needing 319 runs for an improbable victory.
Ishant, who had an animated altercation with Prasad earlier in the day, also dismissed Dinesh Chandimal before giving the batsman a send-off, an act that earned him a 65 percent match fee fine in the first Test.
Earlier, a string of middle and lower order cameos guided India to 274/10 in their second innings on the penultimate day of the third and final Test against Sri Lanka on Monday.
Resuming day four on a precarious 21-3 in the bowler-dominated weather-hit contest, India lost two wickets before lunch and three afterwards but scored freely after the break at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
Dhammika Prasad bowled with characteristic hostility in the morning session.
But it was Nuwan Pradeep who drew first blood, dismissing Virat Kohli (21) who once again succumbed to his penchant for pushing at deliveries outside the off-stump.
Rohit Sharma (50), who brought up India's 50 with a streaky boundary through the vacant third slip, looked more convincing when he hit Pradeep for back-to-back boundaries and needed 71 balls to bring up his fourth Test fifty.
The right-hander fell soon after, however, pulling a short Prasad delivery to fine leg.
Stuart Binny (49) came up with a more eventful knock, the all-rounder playing some risky shots, surviving a stumping opportunity, being hit on the helmet by a Prasad delivery and eventually falling agonisingly short of what could have been only his second Test fifty.
Binny hit seven boundaries in his entertaining knock that hurt Sri Lanka badly.
Even after his dismissal, debutant Naman Ojha (35), Mishra (39) and Ashwin (58) batted resolutely to frustrate Sri Lanka.
No comments:
Post a Comment