India gain 355-run lead at tea on Day 4 of Kotla Test

India were 192/4, swelling their overall lead to 355 at tea against Sri Lanka on the fourth day of the third and final Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla here on Tuesday.

Skipper Virat Kohli (25) and Rohit Sharma (28) were at the crease when umpires called for the break.

Resuming the second session at 51/2, Shikhar Dhawan (67) and Cheteshwar Pujara (49) played sensibly and added 55 runs to the score before Pujara was caught at slips by Angelo Mathews off Dhananjaya de Silva. Pujara's 66-ball innings was laced with five boundaries.

The fall of Pujara's wicket brought in Kohli, who along with Dhawan started troubling the Sri Lankan bowlers.

Just when things seemed good in the middle, Dhawan, who completed 2000 Test runs, was stumped by Niroshan Dickwella off Lakshan Sandakan.

Celebrating his 32nd birthday, Dhawan stepped down the wicket and tried to go for a big one but missed the ball completely and Dickwella made no mistake to uproot the stumps. Dhawan slammed five boundaries and one six in his 91-ball innings.

Incoming batsman Rohit then joined Kohli and played some beautifully crafted shots. In the process, India crossed the 150-run mark and went into the break without losing any more wickets.

For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva and Sandakan chipped in with one wicket each in the second session.

Brief scores: India: 536/7d and 192/4 ( Shikhar Dhawan 67, Cheteshwar Pujara 49; Suranga Lakmal 1/35) vs Sri Lanka: 373 (Dinesh Chandimal 164, Angelo Mathews 111; Ravichandran Ashwin 3/90, Ishant Sharma 3/98, Mohammed Shami 2/85).

--IANS

gau/tri/bg