DELHI: Ajinkya Rahane has missed another opportunity to spend time at the wicket as he fell cheaply on Day four as India swelled their lead before lunch.
Rahane has had a poor run in this series, scoring only 17 runs in five innings. This series was supposed to be the preparation of Indian as they head out to South Africa for their first of many away tours next year.
Rahane, who has performed brilliantly on away tours of Australia and England in the past, is considered the most important batsmen in the Indian lineup specially on away tours. India, on the other hand, didn’t know what to swelled their lead and extended their dominance on the fourth day of the match.
Resuming on 147, Dinesh Chandimal extended his score to a career-best 164 before becoming the last man out in Sri Lanka’s innings. He added 30 for the last wicket with Lakshan Sandakan, who ended up unbeaten on 0 off 20 balls. The No. 11 was beaten multiple times by Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami, but defended stoutly when the line was on the stumps.
At the other end, Chandimal went for his shots, and picked up three fours in the morning, two of them with cuts and uppercuts. That shot, in the end, cost him his wicket, as he sliced Ishant straight to Shikhar Dhawan at third man.
Once again, a number of Sri Lanka’s fielders came out wearing face masks on what was possibly the smoggiest morning of the Test match. Lakmal in particular struggled with the pollution; he vomited on the field and went off briefly before coming back to bowl a short second spell.
At the lunch break, India led by 214, with Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara at the crease.