Indian coach Greg Chappell said they delayed the declaration on the fourth morning as they wanted the outfield to dry a bit after the heavy overnight dew, which has delayed the start of play on all four days in the third and final Test in Ahmedabad.
India played five overs in the morning session before declaring on 316 for 9 to set Sri Lanka a mammoth target of 509 runs to win the Test.
"The morning dew takes time to dry, so the ball gets wet, that's why we wanted to bat a bit in the morning," he told reporters on Wednesday.
The Australian said he was delighted with the team's performance, which saw reducing Sri Lanka to 235 for 6, needing just another four wickets on the final day for victory.
"I am happy with the way our boys persevered. It could have been better if we had finished it today, but Sri Lanka batted very well," he said.
In a surprise move, India opted to use Harbhajan Singh to open the bowling at the start of the Sri Lankan second innings, while both the spinners took the new ball in the second innings.
"We wanted to use Harbhajan early when the ball is new, hard and bouncing, so hopefully he could take some early wickets," Chappell said.
He also said that he is not overly concerned with the failure of the top order.
"It's a cause of concern when we lose early wickets, but quite often you do lose your top order, but the good thing is that the middle order and lower order have performed well," he added.
Chappell also looked back at India's performance during the year and said that he is happy with most aspects.
"If we can keep working on all aspects, I think we can keep getting better and continue to be more consistent in what we do."
"The big thing about the Test matches has been the patience that we have showed, both with the bat and ball in the home series. They have not been easy wickets to score quickly, they have not been wickets you can run through sides, but obviously it's been about the patience with both the bat and ball," Chappell said.
Indian team's media manager M Baladitya, who was also present at the press conference, said that Rahul Dravid has improved and that he came to the dressing room on Wednesday and interacted with the team till the tea break.
"He spoke to the team and said that he is happy with the team's progress," Baladitya said.
The Indian captain will be leaving for his hometown Bangalore later in the evening.
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