WATCH : Dinesh Karthik denied a review for crossing 15-second limit

On a pitch that seems to have moisture and is assisting the pace bowlers, the Indian openers – Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma – failed to see off the new ball, that was moving laterally thanks to the skills of Matthews and Lakmal, and departed early. That brought Indian middle-order in within the fifth over and the newly-appointed skipper Sharma would have wanted them to take up the responsibility on their shoulders. 

However, Karthik and Shreyas Iyer didn't seem to have the answers as they were beaten several times and to add insult to injury, Lakmal superbly set-up the former with a series of away-swingers and on the first ball of the fifth over, he bowled a ball that jagged back in and had Karthik caught in his crease. That resulted in Karthik ending up playing around the ball and beaten on the inside edge as the ball thudded into the pads. The ball was clearly in front of middle and leg, and seeing this entire Sri Lankan team - which seemed to be genuinely giving them a chance to win a game for the first time on this tour – went on appealing and umpire Anil Chaudhary responded by raising his finger. 

Although Karthik started walking back towards the pavilion, he seemed to change his mind and after a short discussion with his partner, Iyer, and asked for a review. But Chaudhary instantly denied him the review for overtaking the 15-second limit that has been allotted to take a review. Although Karthik later would have been happy for the same as the replays suggested that the ball struck in line with the middle stump and also clipped the top of the bails and would have been dismissed on Umpire's call, that would have meant that India would have retained the review.