Kolkata: Opener Shikhar Dhawan (94) and KL Rahul (73) restored India's dominance with fluent half-centuries as the hosts erased a 122-run lead to nose ahead in the opening cricket Test against Sri Lanka, here today. Taking advantage of the improved conditions, Dhawan and Rahul raised a near-flawless 166-run partnership which put India ahead by 49 runs at the end of the fourth day's play. At stumps, India were 171 for one in their second innings with Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara (2) at the crease.
Paceman Mohammed Shami, who had walked off the field yesterday due to cramps in his right leg, claimed three wickets in the morning session to help India bowl out the visitors for 294 early in the second session. With sun shining bright, the wicket had dried up, becoming conducive for batting but the Indian openers played their drives along the ground in the safe cover region. The ball was swinging a bit but it came nicely on to the bat. The Indian batsmen got used to the pace of the ball quickly, making Lankan pacers toil hard without much success. Dhawan and Rahul were calm and patient in their approach, playing mostly with the straight bat but once the the deficit was erased, Dhawan opened up later in the innings to punish the visiting bowlers.
The only time the Lankans came close to dismissing Rahul was when he (on 22) drove straight back to Lahiru Gamage in the 12th over of the innings but the paceman missed the difficult caught and bowled chance. Earier, both Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/88) and Shami (4/100) claimed four wickets each as it took India 38 overs to scalp the remaining six batsmen. Sri Lanka's number nine batsman Rangana Herath emerged the highest run-scorer with his 67-run knock in a splendid rearguard action which helped them grab a decent 122-run lead. Resuming at 165/4, Sri Lankan duo of Niroshan Dickwella (35) and skipper Dinesh Chandimal (28) began in aggressive fashion.
Wicketkeeper Dickwella took on Bhuvneshwar, slamming him for three boundaries in the 52nd over but Shami turned the tide in favour of India removing the overnight batsmen. Dickwella poked at an in-swinger to be caught by Virat Kohli at second slip. In the next over Dasun Shanaka (0) was trapped by Bhuvneshwar with an in-swinger. The decision was unsuccessfully reviewed by Sri Lanka. In the second ball of the next over, Shami dismissed the Lankan skipper who played away from the body and a faint edge went to Wriddhiman Saha as India claimed three wickets in 10 balls in a superb display of pace bowling in the first hour.
