Test in balance after 15-wicket day

India made up for all the time lost to rain on the first two days by reducing Sri Lanka to 47 for 6 and injuring Dhammika Prasad, Sri Lanka's strike bowler on this pitch, but the hosts negated India's advantage by adding 154 with their last four wickets and taking India's first three wickets for seven runs. With India effectively 132 for 3 and the last pair of specialist batsmen already at the wicket, this was anybody's game now.

Fifteen wickets fell for 242 runs in 65.1 overs on a frenetic day where fortunes swung wildly. Yet again Prasad produced a wicket in the first over of the innings, and Cheteshwar Pujara, who carried his bat through in the first dig, became the only man to follow such a feat with a duck in the same Test. At lunch Sri Lanka would have drawn heart from the drizzle that didn't cost the Test any time, but the heavy downpour at 4.40pm would have brought India relief, who yet again ran the risk of collapsing meekly after having watched runs from the Sri Lankan lower order.

It might not result in a win, but if anything, this turnaround from Sri Lanka was even more remarkable than in Galle. Back then they had umpiring decisions and all the luck going their way; here they copped three rough decisions when batting. Upul Tharanga was given out off a no-ball even though the TV umpire had a look at the replays, Dinesh Chandimal - counterattacking his way to 23 off 27 - was given out lbw to a ball that hit him bail high and was on its way up, and Tharindu Kaushal was given out lbw off an inside edge.

Debutant Kusal Perera, who ironically benefited from sloppy slip fielding from India, and Rangana Herath batted smartly in adding 79, the third-highest seventh-wicket partnership in Tests from under a score of 50. Against calculated risks from the lower order, tiring bowlers missed their rhythm. Coming back to bat with an injured hand, Prasad played around with the mind of Ishant Sharma, who had earlier starred with a rare five-for, and scored 27 off 23 to take Sri Lanka past 200.

Not being able to bowl tails out and slips catching have been India's twin tormentors in Test cricket of late, and they could do worse than to look at how they bowled in the first session of the day. The pitch didn't allow crazy seam movement or variable bounce. India just put the ball in areas when uncertain batsmen edge it. Sri Lanka's top order was uncertain.

A certain degree of uncertainty could be expected of a rejigged batting order in the first Test since Kumar Sangakkara's retirement. Tharanga came out to open on his comeback, Dimuth Karunaratane moved down, Chandimal moved up, and Perera batted at No. 7. This raw batting line-up could have done with some luck, which it turned out they didn't have, but it didn't seem like that in the first over after they had taken India's last two wickets for an addition of 20 to their overnight total.

Ishant Sharma, who had played dangerously with the crease when he batted for three balls in the morning, continued to do so. He might have been hitting out under team instructions, but more importantly, Ishant failed to stay in the crease with the first two balls he bowled. It looked like one of those bad days when everything goes against you when he produced Tharanga's edge in the first over, but saw KL Rahul drop it diving in front of first slip. Rahul and slips would go on to gain more and telling mentions.

Redemption nearly did not come for Ishant and Rahul. Tharanga, prone to offering these opportunities outside off, did so soon enough, and Rahul took a good low catch, but Ishant was asked to wait before he celebrated. Replays didn't show any part of his foot behind the line, but mysteriously Tharanga was asked to keep walking. Umesh Yadav soon got rid of Kaushal Silva with the short ball again. Chandimal attacked attractively, but he fell to Stuart Binny, who on the second day had fallen to an outswinger that pitched and seamed back in to hit him on the back thigh. Binny repeated the dose to Chandimal, but replays showed the ball was likely to sail over the stumps.

Ishant came back to deal Sri Lanka telling blows either side of the lunch break. With his first ball back, he had Angelo Mathews poking at one that held its line outside off. With his second ball after the break, Ishant asked a similar question of Lahiru Thirimanne, and the batsman responded with another edge. In between the two dismissals, Karunaratne played a loose drive to a wide half-volley from Binny.

Having taken both those catches, Rahul - like Ishant - was on his way to turning his day around. But with Perera on 9, Sri Lanka 63 for 6 and Prasad retired hurt, Rahul dropped a simple offering off the bowling of Yadav. This wasn't going to be Rahul's last mistake.

With Sanath Jayasuriya watching, the man he resembles at the wicket, Perera, went on to launch a calculated assault. In Herath, Perera found a determined ally. Perera hit nine fours in his 56-ball 55, Herath was more sedate, but the two had taken the sting out of India's bowling by the time Perera fell top-edging a trademark Jayasuriya pull to cow corner. There was resistance from Kaushal, who scored 16 but stayed in the middle for 11 overs, but after benefiting from dodgy lbws in the first innings of the first Test, he was at the receiving end this time.

One short of what could have been his second Test fifty, Herath was snapped up by Ishant just after tea with a ball just outside off and holding its line. Still, when Prasad began to run away from the stumps, India began to follow him and let Sri Lanka add more. With ball in right hand and heavy bandage on left, Prasad didn't follow anybody. He produced the perfect ball to get rid of a man who had played 290 balls without getting dismissed. It pitched short of a length, on middle, squared the batsman up, and hit off.

Rahul couldn't draw any such comfort from having been done in by an unplayable delivery. For the second time in the Test he premeditated a leave without covering his stumps, and had the top of off pinged. Only this time the bowler was Nuwan Pradeep, who went on to repeat the Ajinkya Rahane dismissal with a ball moving in after pitching.