Sri Lanka survived an intense scrutiny in fading light at the Eden Gardens to walk away from the rain-hit opening Test with a draw. The Indians, having set up the platform for the final push, were halted by bad light after reducing the visitors to 75 for 7. The seamers spitting fire, bowlers running back to the top of their run-up, five slips and a gully crouching for a catch, posturing and exchange of words over time-wasting, umpires intervening to break it up… the final moments of a Test that saw over nine hours lost to rain came alive.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar goes up in appeal against a SL batsman during the last day’s play of the opening Test at Eden Gardens yesterday

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav all got among wickets with Kumar completing 50 wickets and finishing with magical figures of 11-8-8-4. But the Lankans held on, heaving a sigh of relief when umpires Nigel Llong and Joel Wilson stopped play some five overs before the mandatory 15.