Dhananjaya, Chandimal stand between India’s victory

New Delhi, Dec 6 (IANS) Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja scalped an early wicket of Sri Lanka batsman Angelo Mathews but Dhananjaya de Silva (72 batting) and Dinesh Chandimal (27 batting) denied India any more inroads, helping their side to 119/4 at lunch.

Dhananjaya and Chandimal stitched an unbeaten 84-run partnership for the fifth wicket to keep India waiting when umpires called it an end to the first session, on the final day of the third Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Wednesday.

For India, Jadeja (3/25) was the lone successful bowler of the first session.

Resuming the day at 31/3, Mathews, who scored a century in the first innings, was sent back cheaply by Jadeja off a tossed-up delivery which landed straight in Ajinkya Rahane's hands at first slip.

Dhananjaya, however, played cautiously meddling the loose balls to eventually bring up his third Test half-century with a boundary off India's premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

The right-hander smashed nine boundaries and one six in his 128-ball innings.

The wicket of Mathews brought in skipper Chandimal, fresh from his 164 in the first essay. The wicketkeeper-batsman relied more on defence and kept playing the perfect second fiddle to Dhananjaya.

However, just at the stroke of lunch, Chandimal survived a close call after he was clean bowled by Jadeja, which the television replays found the Saurashtra left-arm spinner bowling a no-ball.

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 119/4 (Dhananjaya de Silva 72 not out, Dinesh Chandimal 27 not out; Ravindra Jadeja 3/25) against India 563/7 decl and 246/5 decl. at lunch.