First Test: Sri Lanka lead India by 91 runs at lunch on Day 4
Kolkata, Nov 19 (IANS) Sri Lanka off-spinner Dilwuran Perera’s controversial Decision Review System (DRS) call after apparently looking towards the dressing room was the centre of focus as Sri Lanka took a 91-run lead to post 263/8 at lunch on day four of the first Test here at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Batting on 0 after playing seven balls with the score on 208/7 in the 57th over, Perera was seen to be walking back after he was given an LBW by umpire Nigel Llong off a Mohammed Shami delivery which caught him in front of off-stump.
But after seemingly looking towards the dressing room, he turned back and changed his mind to ask for a review which showed the impact of the ball being outside the line of off stump.
Veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, batting on 7, was also consulted.
According to ICC’s DRS Clause 3.2 (c): “In particular, signals from the dressing room must not be given.”
For the tourists, Herath looked good on 43 off 67 not out (6×4) with Suranga Lakmal for company on 10 not out.
India pacer Mohammed Shami (3/87) took three wickets in the first session while Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/87) scalped one.
Resuming from their overnight score of 165/4 with skipper Dinesh Chandimal on 13 and Niroshan Dickwella on 14, the pair stitched together a 62-run fifth wicket partnership before Shami removed the aggressive Dickwella (35 off 38; 5×4).
In the next over, skipper Chandimal also fell prey to the Bengal pacer’s guile before Bhuvneshwar sent Dasun Shanaka back in the hut for a duck as the tourists looked to be crumbling under tough batting conditions in the first hours of the morning session.
Shami’s first spell of the day and fourth overall (7-0-19-2) was excellent.
Not only did he bag the wickets of the overnight batters, the fit-again fast bowler made the most of the early purchase from the wicket and used his skill to swing the ball away from the batsmen around the corridor of uncertainty.
Shami first caught Dickwella’s outside edge which flew through to Kohli at second slip.
In the next over, Chandimal jabbed away from his body an outswinging Shami delivery which took a thin edge to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Herath and Perera (5) joined hands for a 43-run eighth-wicket association before Perera was sent back by Shami caught behind.
A back of a length delivery shaped away from the batsman and caught his outside edge as Perera tried to get behind the line of the ball.
Brief scores: India first innings 172 (Cheteshwar Pujara 52; Suranga Lakmal 4/26; Sri Lanka first innings 263/8 (overnight score 165/4) Angelo Mathews 52, Lahiru Thirimanne 51, Rangana Herath 43 not out; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3/85, Mohammed Shami 3/87)
