Rahane celebrates after scoring his fourth Test century

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

India found themselves in a commanding position at the end of the fourth day of the second Test in Colombo as they dismissed two Sri Lankan batsmen following Ajinkya Rahane’s magnificent knock of 126.

Starting out the day on 70/1, Rahane and opener Murali Vijay were the only two batsmen to make valuable contributions with the bat.

Vijay scored 82 off 133 balls, which included four boundaries and two sixes, before Rahane took over and made 126 off 243 deliveries, which included 10 boundaries.

Vijay hit four boundaries and two sixes during his knock of 82

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Following Rahane’s dismissal, India began to lose wickets at regular intervals until captain Virat Kohli decided to declare when his side were on 325/8 as it set Sri Lanka a target of 413 to win.

Dhammika Prasad and Tharindu Kaushal picked up four wickets apiece.

Chasing 413 to win, Sri Lanka got off to a poor start as they lost Kaushal Silva and Kumar Sanagkkara, who is playing in his final Test, for one and 18 respectively.

Dimuth Karunaratne and captain Angelo Mathews stabilised the innings with an unbeaten 39-run partnership before stumps was called.

Karunaratne finished on 25 off 62 balls, which included four boundaries, while Mathews remained undefeated on 23 off 38 deliveries, which included three boundaries.

Ravichandran Ashwin was the only bowler to take any wickets.

Sri Lanka ended day four on 72/2 and will continue batting tomorrow at 10:00 local time or 04:30 GMT.