India vs Sri Lanka 2017, 1st Test: Shikhar Dhawan hopeful of a win for India

What’s the story?

After forging a fluent 166-run stand with opening partner KL Rahul, Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan sounds confident about a result on the fifth and final day.

"We're going to be positive tomorrow and try to make a match of it. We're going to go for it," Dhawan said.

The details

Dhawan who scored a breezy 94 before being dismissed in the dying moments of the day spoke about his innings and said that while he was happy about his innings, there was a sense of disappointment on missing his century.

However, he was content because he believed that the opening partnership put India on top and that they were perfectly placed to call the shots on the final day.

In case you didn’t know…

After conceding a first-innings lead of 127, thanks to a late resurgence by Rangana Herath, the Indian openers came out all gun blazing and put the Sri Lankan bowlers to the sword on a track which had eased out considerably from the first two days.

The openers shot past the deficit and owing to their counter-attacking approach the hosts now lead Sri Lanka by 49 runs and have nine wickets in hand.

Cheteshwar Pujara and KL Rahul saw out that day as bad light stopped play.

What’s next?

India would now want to drive home the advantage on Day 5 by pressing on the accelerator right from the word go. They would ideally want to stretch the lead to around 200 runs before asking Sri Lanka to bat for survival.

Author’s take

Although, the Indian openers have all but ruled out an Indian defeat, a draw looks the likeliest of results.

The nature of the pitch has changed and there is not enough time remaining in the game to force a result by either team.