Sports Pundit
Cricket

Sangakkara century keeps India at bay

India was on a verge of a win at the end of the fourth day of the third and the final test match at Mumbai against Sri Lanka.

India was on a verge of a win at the end of the fourth day of the third and the final test match at Mumbai against Sri Lanka. Trailing by 333 runs, the Sri Lankans ended the penultimate day on 274/6 and despite the presence of Kumar Sangakkara, it does look like India should be able to make it 2-0. Century to delay last rites>

Resuming on their overnight total of 11/0, the Sri Lankans batted on manfully, before Tillakaratne Dilshan received another iffy decision. Shouldering arms to a Harbhajan Singh delivery, the umpire Daryl Harper ruled him out lbw. The replays showed that the ball would be missing the stumps by a fair distance, but with the review system not being used in the series, the decision went against Dilshan.Half century as opener in both innings>

Sri Lanka went into lunch on 84/1 and crawled to their 100 after the luncheon break. Tharanga Paravitana added 90 runs for the second wicket with Kumar Sangakkara, but once he departed, lbw to Sreesanth, Sri Lanka lost some quick wickets. Mahela Jayawardene edged an out-swinger to the wicket-keeper, while Thilan Samaraweera collected his second failure of the match when he nicked one to VVS Laxman in the slips.

Angelo Mathews also did not last too long to recreate the heroics of the first innings, as he was caught behind by MS Dhoni off Pragyan Ojha.

Sangakkara had had a low-scoring series so far, but he looked determined at the other end to stick it out despite the score reading 144/5. He was first involved in a 64-run stand with the wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene, and on the wicket-keeper’s dismissal, he also added another unbeaten 66 runs with Nuwan Kulasekera to get to his century. Kulasekera’s contribution with the bat was only nine runs, and by the time the stumps were drawn, the Sri Lankans were 59 runs behind of India with four wickets standing.