Dinusha digs deep as Sri Lanka's tail resists

Tea arrived on the final day of the second Test in Colombo with Sri Lanka firmly in the ascendancy in the race against time, as Sonal Dinusha walked off to a standing ovation from his teammates and the crowd. Grinding his way into the 90s, the left-hander has been at the heart of a stubborn rearguard that has refused to let India force a series-clinching victory.

Another frustrating session for India

With the final session of the series set to commence at 3:15 pm IST, Dinusha and last man Lahiru Kumara had eaten into increasingly valuable time, leaving the visitors' victory hopes hanging by a thread. It was, in the words of the live commentary, "another frustrating session for India", who have toiled long spells on a Day 5 surface that is producing genuine turn and variable bounce.

The fight into the nineties

Dinusha was relentlessly inventive against the spinners, repeatedly manufacturing runs through the reverse sweep, a stroke he unfurled time and again as Saransh Jain and Ravindra Jadeja struggled to break through. A crunching sweep between short fine leg and square leg took him to 97, and he reverse-swept Jain for a couple to push past the nineties as Sri Lanka's lead swelled beyond 160 runs.

It was a genuinely absorbing duel. "Beauty! Another one that flirts past the bat's edge. Gets a good bit of bounce, highly unusual on a Day 5 pitch. Dinusha leans forward to defend it straight, but the ball whispers past the outside edge. Good, sharp take by Pant," ran the commentary, as Dinusha repeatedly survived the turning ball, at times lucky, at others defiant. He also escaped a run out chance when Mohammed Siraj's direct hit missed by a whisker, and even battled cramps between the wickets in the Colombo heat.

Kumara's thorn-in-the-side effort

At the other end, Lahiru Kumara proved the ideal foil, getting inside the line, ducking under bouncers and defending stoutly. The pair were aided by a bizarre boundary when four leg-byes raced between first slip and the wicketkeeper after extra bounce brushed Kumara's bicep and shot to the deep third fence.

India came agonisingly close to a breakthrough when Kumara eked an outside edge to the left of first slip, but KL Rahul, diving low, had the ball dip just below his fingers. There was also a stifled caught-behind appeal, with UltraEdge showing a spike when the ball was beside Kumara's thigh pad rather than the bat.

Physical toll of the long toil

The exertions of the extended haul took their toll on the tourists, with Ravindra Jadeja going off the field with cramps in his right leg. "Jadeja is one of the fittest players you will see out there, but even he is feeling the effects of the long toil in the field," noted the commentary, with Prasidh Krishna completing his over.

With 44 overs left in the day, two of them lost to the change of innings, and a lead of more than 160, India were left needing early wickets in the final session if they were to force a result. Sri Lanka, though, had shown precisely the resoluteness required to bat out the day.