The one-sided pink-ball contest in Bangalore got stretched into the third day as India left a hapless Sri Lankan side with a mountain to climb.

After the visitors were bowled out for 109 in first half-an-hour of play on Sunday at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer once again battered the Lankan attack before Rohit Sharma declared India’s second innings on 303/9. With an improbable target of 447 runs threatening them, Sri Lanka looked jittery as usual, losing Lahiru Thirimanne to the third ball of their second innings.

At the close of play, they were 28/1 after facing seven nervous overs under the lights, with captain Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis at the crease.

Such is the gulf in quality between the two teams that one feels that even a miracle might not be enough to save the Lankans from losing this game. The Indian bowling attack, both pace and spin, looks too strong for the Lankan batters. The pink ball and a responsive pitch have made it even worse for them.

India need nine more wickets for a 2-0 sweep of the series. As things stand, it is not about whether they will do it, it is just about how fast they will do it.

Fastest fifty

While the Lankan batting sunk in mediocrity, the Indians rose to the challenge of answering the questions posed by the pink ball and the pitch. Like in the first innings, it was once again a Pant and Iyer show in the middle. Pant’s 31-ball 50 and Iyer’s 67-run knock were highlights of India’s second innings.

With the cushion of a 143-run lead, India batted better in their second innings. Pant’s breathtaking and bullish knock forced Sri Lanka into complete submission, while also allowing Iyer to display his batsmanship with more freedom.

Iyer’s stupendous run of form with the bat continued, his 87-ball innings being decked with nine hits the fence, but it was Pant who stole the spotlight.

The left-handed entertainer cut, pulled, swept, reverse swept, drove and charged down the wicket at will and raised his fifty off just 28 balls. It was the fastest Test fifty by an Indian, bettering the 30-ball effort by Kapil Dev against Pakistan in 1982.

However, Virat Kohli (13) again tasted failure as he was trapped leg before to a Praveen Jayawickrama delivery that kept low.

The fans’ love for Kohli though remains undiminished, as three of them managed to breach the security cordon and entered the ground during the closing stages of play on Saturday and one of them even stole a selfie with their favourite star.

Bumrah’s five

The morning session belonged to speedster Jasprit Bumrah (5/24) as hecompleted his eighth five-wicket haul — the first at home —as India polished off the Sri Lankan lower-order in quick time. Sri Lanka resumed at 86/6 and India required less than 30 minutes to wrap up their innings. Bumrah and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (2/30) scalped two batters each as the visiting team looked clueless in defence.