India vs Sri Lanka | First Test ends with a dramatic draw

Day 1

Rain continued to play spoilsport on the second day too and apart from Cheteshwar Pujara, no Indian batsman could really accept Eden Gardens’ challenge. India lost two other wickets to Dasun Shanaka soon as Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin failed to add extra runs to India’s total. At the end of the day, Wriddhiman Saha was surviving at the crease with an adamant Pujara on the other end as India improved their condition slightly at 75/5 in 32.5 overs. 

Sri Lanka had dominated proceedings in the Test so far and the trend continued on Day 3 as well, with the home side restricted to just 172 runs in the first innings. In reply, riding on a 99-run third wicket partnership between Angelo Mathews (52) and Lahiru Thirimanne (51), Sri Lanka closed the gap to just 7 runs, losing four wickets in the process. In comparison to the team which India played three months back, this seemed a very changed side who showed fighting spirit despite early collapse. A special mention of the third day could, however, be Dinesh Chandimal’s fake fielding, which went unnoticed by the field officials. 

On the 53rd over of India’s innings, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had hit a Dasun Shanaka ball past cover. Chandimal who was fielding in the cover region chased the ball, but, on realizing that the third man was in a better position to get the ball he slid on the ground. What he did next has created a bit of a controversy. Chandimal rose to his feet and appeared to throw the ball when he did not have possession of it. Since the revamped ICC rule states against "intentionally deceiving or distracting a batsman", India should have given five penalty runs here.  However, at the end of the over, the umpire had a word with the fielder but did not add any penalty runs.

Rangana Herath’s heroics helped Sri Lanka to take an impressive 123-run lead over India on the fourth day of the series. In their second innings, India started aggressively as Dhawan (94) and Rahul (73*) performed well with the pitch hardly offering any movements, which helped the team to take a 49-run lead before the ended. Previously, Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had played crucial roles in limiting Sri Lanka to just 294 runs as they took four wickets each.

After fake fielding on the previous day, another controversial incident grabbed the headlines on the 57 over of Day 4 when the visitors were batting second. Sri Lanka were comfortable at 208-7 with two new batsmen Diruwan Perera and Rangana Herath at the crease. The last ball of the 56th over saw a fine in-swinging delivery by Mohammad Shami striking on Perera’s back-pad, in front of the off-stump. A loud shout by the Indian players led to the umpire to raise his finger. Perera had started walking towards the pavilion, pretty confident that he had been caught plumb. However, with the Indian players celebrating, Perera apparently had a change of heart and turned around and opted for a review.