Playing just his second Test and the first in his team’s starting XI, Pasindu Sooriyabandara made Sri Lanka dream of the rarest of possibilities, but reality imposed itself on the SSC late on day four as India regained their grip on a Test match that had seemed to spiral out of control after the threat of bad weather led them to enforce the follow-on.

After Sooriyabandara put on 58 with Kamil Mishara for the second wicket and 115 with Kamindu Mendis for the third, Sri Lanka were at one stage 209 for 3, or just four runs behind with seven second-innings wickets in hand, on a day-four pitch that was still looking excellent for batting. India’s bowlers were into their 149th over across two consecutive innings, and looking short of both penetration and inspiration against a top order that had never allowed them to settle into their lengths.

Just then, however, Manav Suthar, who had borne the brunt of Sri Lanka’s positive intent, dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva and then Sooriyabandara in the space of two overs, the latter out eight short of a maiden Test hundred. Soon after, Saransh Jain trapped Niroshan Dickwella lbw, and Sri Lanka were effectively 5 for 6. By the time rain arrived to bring an early end to the day, Sri Lanka’s seventh-wicket pair had only added a further 11 runs to their tally.

If Sri Lanka still retain any hope going into the final day of this series, it will rest on the shoulders of Sonal Dinusha, batting on 7 in his final innings of a remarkable series. Earlier in the day, he had converted his overnight 85 into his second century of the series, with his only other completed innings bringing him 84.

Sri Lanka had resumed with two wickets in hand and 39 runs away from avoiding the follow-on, and Dinusha quickly set about reducing that deficit, sweeping Jain confidently for six despite having just overturned an lbw decision on height after missing the same shot off the same bowler. A pair of pulled fours – one each off Jain and Prasidh Krishna – took him past the century mark. Along the way, Dinusha brought up his half-century stand with Lahiru Kumara too.

An untimely slog from Kumara, however, hastened the end of Sri Lanka’s innings, with Jain, who took that wicket, his first in Tests, finishing things off by spinning one sharply to have Dinusha caught at slip. India bowling coach Morne Morkel had indicated at the end of day three that India were looking to enforce the follow-on, and they duly did so, with a first-innings lead of 213.

Sri Lanka’s horror run of opening stands continued, this latest one lasting only 3.3 overs, with an accurate bouncer from Mohammed Siraj getting Lahiru Udara caught at long leg. But the intent in that hook continued to reverberate through the rest of the morning’s play, with Sooriyabandara and Mishara sweeping, reverse-sweeping and lofting the spinners at every opportunity.

They put on 58 off just 67 balls before the sweep finally worked against Mishara, with Ravindra Jadeja managing to strike him in front of the stumps with one that turned sharply from outside off. Given out on field, Mishara reviewed, only for ball-tracking to return an umpire’s call verdict on leg stump.

Sooriyabandara enjoyed a major slice of luck when a top-edged sweep off Suthar, whom he had already hit for a reverse-swept four earlier in the over, fell to ground despite a valiant diving effort from Siraj at deep square leg; the fielder landed heavily on his side and went off the field in what looked like severe pain before returning and eventually bowling again. Sooriyabandara was batting on 17 when he offered this chance.

With the pitch only occasionally offering big turn, and seldom from the line of the stumps, India’s three spinners toiled hard with little reward through the first two sessions. And Sri Lanka’s aggression forced them into defensive plans, with Suthar going over the wicket to Sooriyabandara in an effort to challenge his sweep out of the rough outside leg stump.

None of Suthar’s plans in particular seemed to work, and at one stage, he had figures of 8-0-53-0, with Kamindu launching him for a pair of big sixes. Kamindu, who is going through something of an understandable trough after a Bradmanesque start to his Test career, was reasserting his quality at the tail end of a lean series, and pulled Prasidh, who had dismissed him with the short ball in his last two innings, for a four and a six to get to his half-century.

But Prasidh stuck to his short-ball plan, and Kamindu kept taking on the pull, despite a switch to over the wicket that meant he was going against the angle. He finally miscued one, and Shubman Gill took an exceptional catch, turning around at square leg and running towards the boundary with the ball dropping from over his shoulder, to end a third-wicket stand that had put on 115 in just 172 balls.

Sri Lanka retrenched thereafter, with Sooriyabandara and Dhananjaya putting on 31 off 94 balls to ensure there was no more damage until tea. Sooriyabandara, who had gone to 83 off 113 balls with a no-look slog-sweep for six off Suthar, only added seven runs off his last 44 balls before the interval.

Sri Lanka were only three down when the final session began, though, and India didn’t seem to have any clear route to breaking this stand. When the moment arrived, it came via a bizarre turn of fortune. Dhananjaya went on the back foot to work Suthar into the leg side and inside-edged into his thigh pad, from where the ball lobbed up to the helmeted Devdutt Padikkal at a kneeling silly gully.

Then the long, boundary-less lull seemed to get to Sooriyabandara, who survived an lbw on review thanks to an inside edge into his thigh pad after he had aimed a sweep at Suthar off the line of the stumps. Rishabh Pant, who had reclaimed the keeping gloves from Dhruv Jurel at the start of the day after recovering from the shoulder injury he had suffered while batting, yelled out to Suthar that Sooriyabandara was looking restless.

Next ball, Sooriyabandara jumped out of his crease, and Suthar, seeing him coming, floated the ball wide outside off stump and well away from his reach. Pant completed an acrobatic stumping, and India were right back on top.

Jain strengthened their position further four overs later, sliding one on from around the wicket to Dickwella to beat his inside edge in defence, and strike his front pad right in front. The only thing that could have saved Dickwella was ball-tracking projecting that the ball would miss leg stump: the graphic showed it smashing the inside half of that stump. Sri Lanka were effectively 5 for 6, and the dream that Sooriyabandara had built was now lying in ruins.