New Delhi: A crowd of more than 15,000 turned up at the Kotla, on Sunday, hoping to watch some entertaining cricket in the final Test. Though they had the privilege of being witness to the career-best Test knock of 243 by Virat Kohli and some fiery bowling by Indian pacers, they did not deserve the drama that was enacted in the middle at the post-lunch session.

At the end of Day Two, Sri Lanka were 131 for three in reply to India's mammoth 536 for seven declared and remained very much in danger of facing their second successive defeat in the three-match series. Their position would have been worse had not Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli dropped two regulation catches in the slips.

But what hogged the limelight was the refusal of the visitors to continue fielding because of smog and pollution. While the Indian team management later said they did not find it difficult, Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas claimed a couple of his players were vomiting in the dressing room.

Only 10 overs were bowled for around 80 minutes after the lunch break when the Sri Lankan players, eight of them wearing anti-pollution masks, stopped play on three occasions. Finally, a rather frustrated India declared the innings and the Sri Lankans came out to bat for 44.3 overs.

When Kohli declared the innings, it certainly avoided a crisis situation as Sri Lanka repeatedly stopped play and spoke to the umpires, which could have led to calling off the day's play.

Not that it helped Sri Lanka much when they came out to bat. Mohammed Shami's first delivery saw opener Dimuth Karunarathne edging the ball to the gloves of Wriddhiman Saha.

In the sixth over, Ishant Sharma struck when he trapped Dhananjaya De Silva leg before. Both the Indian pacers were unlucky as Dhawan and Kohli in the slips failed to hold on to catches. Otherwise, Dilruwan Perera and Angelo Mathews would have been back in the pavilion and the Lankan bowlers failed to put up much resistance<>. The duo put on 135 runs for the fifth wicket before Rohit fell at the stroke of lunch.

Both scored quickly when play resumed on Sunday morning and Kohli's double century came in the 108th over when he guided a Lakmal delivery to deep midwicket for a couple of runs. All his double centuries came in the last 17 months and he looked solid and dominating.

The crowd was ecstatic - Kohli is a local boy and it was his first three-figure knock as a Test captain on home turf. Given the way he was playing, Kohli looked like having the ability to go on as long as he wanted. But he was perhaps disturbed by the numerous stoppages.

Once the play resumed after the first break - Ashwin was the first to go off a Gamage delivery. It happened in the 123rd over and two overs later, Kohli was trapped leg before. Kohli's classic lasted 287 balls and was studded with 25 hits to the boundary.

In the Sri Lankan innings, seasoned campaigner Mathews stood out with an unbeaten knock of 57 with eight fours and two sixes. He, however, enjoyed a charmed life. When on six, he was dropped by Kohli.