Kolkata Nov 19 (IANS) Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Lokesh Rahul made mincemeat of the Sri Lankan bowling attack to help India take a 49 run-lead and end the fourth day at 171/1 at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
Play was called off early due to bad light.
After the tourists put up 294 on the board riding veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath s 67 to take a 122-run lead Dhawan (94 off 116; 11x4 2x6) and Rahul (73 not out; 8x4) went through the gears with ease milking the likes of Suranga Lakmal (0/29) and Lahiru Gamage (0/47) around the park.
Dhawan missed out on his seventh hundred in the longest format of the game by six runs. The pair engineered a 166-run stand for the first wicket.
Herath (0/25) could not make inroads as Dhawan brought up his fifty off 74 balls flicking Dilruwan Perera to deep wicket for a single while Rahul racked up his ninth half-century in 11 matches with a single right of mid-wicket to the same bowler.
Dhawan fell to Dasun Shanaka s (1/29) length delivery which nipped back and took the inside edge of his bat to wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella. The southpaw under fire after dropping a regulation catch on the third day and playing a poor shot in the first essay went for a review straightaway but was turned down.
Earlier Perera stirred up a hornet s nest by apparently looking towards the dressing room during a Review System (DRS) call in the 57th over of Lanka s innings.
Batting on duck after playing seven balls with the score on 208/7 Perera was seen to be walking back after he was given leg before wicket 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 to ask for a review which showed the impact of the ball being outside the line of off stump.
According to the ICC s DRS Clause 3.2 (c): "In particular signals from the dressing room must not be given."
Resuming the day on 165/4 the tourists lost four wickets for 79 runs before Herath (67 off 105; 9x4) stitched together a 46-run stand for the ninth wicket with Lakmal (16 off 37; 3x4) to steer Sri Lanka past the 100-run mark lead.
This is the 39-year s old third fifty in the longest format.
Herath also joined hands with Perera (5) for a 43-run eighth wicket association before the latter got out. Sri Lanka were all out for 294.
Mohammed Shami (4/100) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/88) were the pick of the bowlers with Shami taking all four wickets on Sunday.
The Bengal pacer accounted for skipper Dinesh Chandimal (28 off 57; 3x4) Niroshan Dickwella 35 off 38; 5x4) Herath and Lakmal while Bhuvneshwar sent Dasun Shanaka packing for a duck.
Umesh Yadav took two wickets on the third day leaking 79 runs. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja who bowled just one over returned wicketless.
Lakmal who was Sri Lanka s best bowlers in the first essay taking four wickets had to leave the field due to injury after bowling just two overs. He was back later in the 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.
--IANS
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