Sri Lanka show fight back after trail big score of host first innings the score at the end of day 3, still 180 runs behind Sri Lanka 356 for 9 as India came back strongly in the last session of play. The Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal played a captain's knock and is still out there in the middle. The visitors would look to get as close to the Indian total as possible. Ravichandran Ashwin was the pick of the bowlers for India by returning with figures of 3 for 90 as Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja picked up a couple of wickets each. The Indians picked up 5 wickets in the last session after going wicketless in the first session and only the wicket of Mathews in the second session.

Former skipper Mathews and Chandimal's partnership, Sri Lanka had fought back brilliantly in the first two sessions. Having lost Mathews in the post-lunch session, Sri Lanka had gone to tea with the score on 270 for 4, still trailing India by 266 runs. Ashwin was the lone wicket-taker in the session.

Earlier, Mathews and Chandimal helped Sri Lanka reach 192 for 3 at lunch. The Indian bowlers tried everything, starting from coming round the wicket to bowling at the rib cage but the visitors negotiated all of that without losing a wicket in the first session. For the hosts, Mohammed Shami looked threatening on more than a couple of occasions, beating the bat at will but failed to get the breakthrough for India.