Umpire's blooper sets Sri Lanka back in final Test

An umpiring blunder cost Sri Lanka dearly as they battled to stave off defeat in the third and final Test against India at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

The tourists, trailing by 333 on the first innings, moved from their overnight score of 11-0 to 84-1 in their second knock by lunch on the fourth day.

Sri Lanka lost key batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan to an umpire's mistake for the second time in the match when he was given out leg-before to Harbhajan Singh after making 16.

Australian umpire Daryl Harper raised his finger as Dilshan padded up to a ball that spun sharply from the middle-stump and hit the batsman's front leg.

Television replays showed the ball missing the leg-stump by at least six inches.

In the first innings, Dilshan's century knock was ended by English umpire Nigel Llong, who ruled the batsman caught at forward short-leg even though the ball bounced off the pad.

The umpires' referral system, which allows a batting or bowling team to appeal for a review of an on-field decision, is not being used in the series.

Tharanga Paranavitana and skipper Kumar Sangakkara overcame the setback to put on 55 for the undefeated second wicket by lunch.

Paranavitana was unbeaten on 42 and Sangakkara was on 22 with Sri Lanka still 249 runs behind with nine wickets in hand.

India lead 1-0 in the three-match series after winning the second Test in Kanpur last week by an innings and 144 runs.