India, Aug. 18 -- Rishabh Pant dazzled with a whirlwind fifty before India's bowlers struck on a worn Galle pitch to leave themselves six wickets from a deserved victory in the first Test against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

The hosts still needed 288 runs to win on the fifth day, but it is more likely that India will better them, provided the weather holds to give them enough time to bowl out the hosts. At stumps, Sri Lanka were 84/4 with skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (31*) and first-innings centurion Sonal Dinusha (25*) together.

India had begun Day 4 with a lead of 178, but the possibility of leaving themselves too little time to bowl Sri Lanka out remained, particularly with the rain threat in this southern Sri Lankan venue. Instead, India's...