1st Test: It's advantage Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens

KOLKATA: The sun finally shone, and at the end of a gripping day's cricket, Sri Lanka were in a stronger position in the first Test against India at Eden Gardens. The islanders closed Day 3 on 165 for 4, to be just seven runs short of India's first-innings total.
Resuming at 74 for five, India lost their last five wickets for 98 runs to be bowled out at the stroke of lunch. Bhuvneshwar Kumar did provide the early breakthroughs, removing both Lankan openers Sadeer Samarawickrama and Dimuth Karunaratne, before comeback men Lahiru Thirimanne and Angelo Mathews shared a 99-run third-wicket partnership to steady the
innings. Umesh Yadav then struck twice in the last session of play to help India stay in the match.
Cheteshwar Pujara brought up his 16th Test fifty off the sixth ball of the morning when he swept Rangana Herath to the fine-leg boundary. Four overs later, though, Lahiru Gamage went through the defence of India's best batsman on show here to send Pujara's off stump for a walk with a beauty that cut back through between his bat and pad gap. Pujara fell for 52, which came off 117 balls and included 10 fours.
Wriddhiman Saha, the other overnight unbeaten batsman, greeted Dilruwan Perera with a late cut to the thirdman boundary while Ravindra Jadeja lifted him over long-on for the first six of the match in the off-spinner's next over. But Perera had the last laugh when he dismissed both batsmen in the same over. Perera broke the 48-run seven-wicket stand by trapping Jadeja (22) in front of the wicket as the left-hander missed the line, playing a half-hearted forward defensive stroke. The umpire turned down the Lankan appeal, but had to reverse his decision when they opted for the DRS which showed the ball to be hitting the stumps.
Three balls later, Saha's (29) attempted sweep lobbed up and was easily pouched by Mathews who ran backwards from first slip. The wicketkeeper-batsman felt the ball had hit his forearm and reviewed the decision. The replays showed the ball to be kissing his gloves before hitting the forearm.
That India were able to reach 172 from 128 for 8 was mainly thanks to some big hitting by Mohammad Shami, who swung his bat to good use to make a useful 24 while adding 36 runs for the last wicket with Umesh Yadav. Kumar had Karunaratne legbefore with the lefthander offering no shot to an incoming delivery. Karunaratne reviewed the decision, but to no avail. In his very next over, Kumar got Samarawickrama to edge an away-going ball to Saha.
With Lanka on 34 for two, it looked like India were set to seize back the initiative. But Thirimanne and Mathews applied themselves well to frustrate bowlers. Thirimanne was lucky when Dhawan grassed an easy catch at first slip off Yadav when he was on 27.