In the middle of the 104th over, Keshara Nuwantha needed medical attention from the physio. India had, by then, bowled 31 overs on the fifth morning in Colombo, and still couldn’t prise apart the stubborn pairing of Sonal Dinusha and Nuwantha. The clock ticked, but the wickets refused to come.
It had reached the point where Rishabh Pant tried swapping the bails, before Dhruv Jurel went a step further and swapped the stumps, perhaps hoping a small alteration might somehow change India’s fortunes. It was a small act, but a telling one. India had become that desperate.
