Fastest test century from Dinesh Chandimal………

Dinesh Chandimal smashed an unbeaten 162 off 169 balls to lead a brilliant revival by Sri Lanka on the third day of the first Test against India at Galle on Friday.

The hosts, who trailed India by 192 runs in the first innings, were reduced to 95-5 in their second knock before Chandimal launched an audacious counter-attack to steer his team away from imminent disaster.

Sri Lanka went on to make 367, setting India a tricky target of 176 runs to take the lead in the three-match series.
India ended the day at a shaky 23 for one after Lokesh Rahul was trapped leg-before by Rangana Herath for five. First-innings century-maker Shikhar Dhawan was unbeaten on 13 and nightwatchman Ishant Sharma was on five.
The 25-year-old Chandimal hit four sixes — one of them a spectacular reverse sweep off Harbhajan Singh over the mid-wicket boundary — and 19 boundaries in his fourth Test century.

Chandimal put on 125 for the sixth wicket with Lahiru Thirimanne (44) and 82 for the seventh with Jehan Mubarak (49) to frustrate India’s bid to force an early win.
Chandimal and Thirimanne, who joined hands before lunch with their team still 98 runs away from wiping the deficit, batted through a major part of the post-lunch session.
As the pair settled down, the Indians were left to rue the refusal by their powerful cricket board to use the Decision Review System for their bilateral matches.

Both batsmen were fortunate to get into double figures after surviving three appeals for catches close to the wicket — two against Chandimal and one against Thirimanne — in a 10-minute period before lunch.Replays showed all three catches were clean, but the absence of DRS meant India could not ask for reviews from the television umpire.
Sri Lanka, who resumed at 5-2, lost nightwatchman Dhammika Prasad off the first ball of the day to give India a flying start.
Prasad attempted to fend off a short ball from Varun Aaron and gloved a catch to a diving Rahane at gully.
Mathews and Sangakkara took charge with a series of attacking shots, including a straight six and a reverse-sweep boundary by the Sri Lanka captain off Ashwin.

Sangakkara, who looked in good form during his 70-ball innings in which he hit five boundaries, was dismissed against the run of play 20 minutes before lunch.
The left-hander edged Ashwin to the slip region where Rahane dived to his left to pick up a stunning one-handed catch.
Sangakkara received a standing ovation from some 1,500 home fans as he walked back after playing his final innings at the Galle International Stadium.

Scores

Sri Lanka 1st Innings : 183
India 1st Innings: 375
Sri Lanka 2nd Innings
D. Karunaratne b Ashwin 00
K. Silva b Mishra 00
D. Prasad c Rahane b Aaron 03
K. Sangakkara c Rahane b Ashwin 40
A. Mathews c Rahul b Mishra 39
D. Chandimal not out 162
L. Thirimanne c Rahane b Ashwin 44
J. Mubarak c Rahane b Harbhajan 49
R. Herath c Rahane b Mishra 01
T. Kaushal c Saha b Ishant 07
N. Pradeep b Ashwin 03
Extras: (b3, w8, nb8) 19
Total (all out, 82.2 overs) 367
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Karunaratne), 2-1 (Silva), 3-5 (Prasad), 4-92 (Sangakkara), 5-95 (Mathews), 6-220 (Thirimanne), 7-302 (Mubarak), 8-319 (Herath), 9-360 (Kaushal), 10-367 (Pradeep).
Bowling: Ashwin 28.2-6-114-4, Mishra 17-2-61-3 (nb2), Harbhajan 17-0-73-1, Aaron 7-0-39-1 (w8), Ishant 13-0-77-1 (nb6).
India 2nd Innings
L. Rahul lbw b Herath 05
S. Dhawan not out 13
I. Sharma not out 05
Extras: 00
Total (for one wicket, eight overs) 23
Fall of wicket: 1-12 (Rahul).
Bowling: Prasad 2-1-2-0, Herath 3-0-13-1, Kaushal 3-1-8-0.