Galle Set for a Final Day: Sri Lanka 84 for 4, Chasing 372
India need six wickets, Sri Lanka need 288 runs. The first Test goes into its last day with the hosts four down and a record chase required.
The first Test between Sri Lanka and India at Galle goes into its final day with the game open and the arithmetic heavily against the home side.
The position at the close
Sri Lanka finished the fourth day on 84 for 4, chasing 372. They need 288 more runs; India need six wickets.
India made 462 in their first innings, built on Devdutt Padikkal's maiden Test hundred on the opening day. Sri Lanka replied with 284, conceding a lead of 178. India's second innings was a scrappier affair, all out for 193, with Rishabh Pant top scoring with an aggressive 66 that pushed the target beyond what Galle usually yields in a fourth innings.
Sri Lanka's reply began badly. Mohammed Siraj removed Nishan Madushka early, and further strikes from Prasidh Krishna and the left-arm spinner Manav Suthar left the hosts four down before the close.
What a chase of 372 would mean
It would be a record fourth-innings chase at the ground by a distance. Galle is a venue where the ball turns and bounces less as the match goes on but where the rough outside the left-hander's off stump becomes decisive, and where a target above 300 has historically been close to unassailable.
Sri Lanka's hopes rest on batting through the morning session with the ball still relatively new and the spinners not yet into the day's rhythm. India will expect to be bowling at the tail before lunch.
The second Test of the series follows later in the tour.