Sri Lanka vs. India, 3rd Test, Day 4: Sri Lanka Flop, Sharma and Prasad Scuffle

Despite an entire day’s play being lost to rain, India find themselves in the driving seat heading into the fifth day of the deciding Test against Sri Lanka.

The hosts will have to try and survive 90 overs tomorrow (weather permitting) with just seven wickets in hand after India’s lower order helped them put on a respectable second-innings total.

India have not won a series in Sri Lanka since 1993, and things are set up for an intriguing finish on Day 5.

Here are some talking points from the fourth day.

Ishant Sharma and his argy-bargy

Those who believe that cricket is the “Gentleman’s game” would have been shocked to see how the players behaved on the field today.

When Ishant Sharma walked out to bat and bowler Dhammika Prasad decided to bounce him, Sharma got a bit wound up. He banged his helmet as if to say, “hit me.”

The two got into a bit of a scuffle, and by the time India were all out and Sharma rushed off to go bowl, Prasad sprinted off and followed him into the dressing room. In the tunnel, the two had to be separated, but it had obviously fired Sharma up.

By the time the Indian pace ace picked up his first wicket in Sri Lanka’s second innings, he was banging his head and screaming in jubilation.

A Test for lower-order batsmen

Barring Cheteshwar Pujara's effort in the first innings, this has very much been a Test of the lower-order batsmen: Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera and Rangana Herath in their first innings and India's Ravichandran Ashwin and Stuart Binny's contribution in their second dig.

If Sri Lanka are looking for something positive, they can take heart from that. Their top order has stumbled their way through this match with Upul Tharanga failing to make it into double figures in both innings. India deserve credit for bowling well, but Sri Lanka’s batsmen have been woeful.

Sri Lanka’s battle to save face

On the note of woeful batsmen, Sri Lanka face an uphill battle to save the Test on Tuesday. They have not lost a home series to India since 1993, and after coming from behind to win the first Test, expectations have been high.

But Sri Lanka fell flat in the second Test and have been very much the same this Test, too. They might be going through a transitional period, but Sri Lanka have been woefully under par in their approach.

Considering India’s reputation as a team who can’t win away from home, losing the series isn’t exactly going to look great on the record books.

Did India delay the declaration for too long?

If Sri Lanka somehow manage to rally and hang on, India might blame themselves for letting a chance slip.

With rain around, Sri Lanka's unpredictable batting and a 380-run lead already on the board, you'd have expected Ishant Sharma to not walk out to the middle, but he did. 

In fact, you'd have expected Virat Kohli's "aggressive" streak to have declared long before Ravi Ashwin got his 50.

It’s the eternal question of hindsight: If India take those seven wickets quickly, then the declaration won’t matter. If rain intervenes and India lose out on a chance to win a series, Kohli’s captaincy will raise a few eyebrows.

If India did delay the declaration, perhaps there was method to their madness. They have a tough four-Test series against South Africa coming up and need their bowlers to be fresh for that.

Having to give it their all on these Sri Lankan tracks so soon after doing just that might have been a way of saving their bowlers just a bit.