Sri Lanka's captain Kumar Sangakkara scored an unbeaten century to delay India's victory bid in the third and final Test here on Saturday. The tourists, trailing by 333 on the first innings, survived a middle-order collapse in the post-lunch session to move to 274-6 in their second knock by stumps on the fourth day.
Left-handed Sangakkara returned undefeated on 133, his highest score in the series, with Sri Lanka still needing 59 more to avoid a second successive innings defeat with four wickets in hand. India, who won the Kanpur Test by an innings and 144 runs, will leapfrog leaders South Africa and number two Sri Lanka to become the top-ranked Test side if they win the series 2-0.
Sri Lanka lost four wickets for 25 runs in the post-lunch session to slip to 144-5, before Sangakkara led a revival to take the match into the fifth day. The skipper put on 64 for the sixth wicket with wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene (32) and 66 for the unbroken seventh with Nuwan Kulasekara, who was unbeaten on nine.
Australian umpire Daryl Harper raised his finger as Dilshan padded up to a ball that spun sharply from the middle-stump and hit the batsman's front leg. Television replays showed the ball missing leg-stump by at least six inches. In the first innings, Dilshan's century knock was cut short by English umpire Nigel Llong, who ruled the batsman caught at forward short-leg even though the ball bounced off the pad. The umpires' referral system, which allows a batting or bowling team to appeal for a review of an on-field decision, is not being used in the series.
Scoreboard Scoreboard at stumps on the fourth day of the third and final Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Saturday: Sri Lanka 1st innings: 393 (T. Paranavitana 53, T. Dilshan 109, A. Mathews 99, H. Singh 4-112, P. Ojha 3-101) India 1st innings: 726-9 decl (M. Vijay 87, V. Sehwag 293, R. Dravid 74, S. Tendulkar 53, V. Laxman 62, M. Dhoni 100 not out; R. Herath 3-240, M. Muralitharan 4-195)
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SRI LANKA 2ND INNINGS (OVERNIGHT 11-0):
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T. Paranavitana lbw b Sreesanth 54
T. Dilshan lbw b Harbhajan 16
K. Sangakkara not out 133
M. Jayawardene c Dhoni b Zaheer 12
T. Samaraweera c Laxman b Zaheer 0
A. Mathews c Dhoni b Ojha 5
P. Jayawardene lbw b Ojha 32
N. Kulasekara not out 9
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Extras: (b8, lb1, nb3, w1) 13
Total: (for six wkts, 93 overs) 274
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