Replying to Sri Lanka's 600-6 decl, India were 131 for loss of four wickets in their first innings when bad light stopped play on the third day of the first cricket Test in Colombo on Friday. India are trailing by 469 runs.
Sri Lanka declared at 600 for six just after lunch on the third day. India face an uphill task of trying to stay in the match.
Tillakaratne Dilshan became the fourth Sri Lankan batsman to score a hundred as Indian bowlers continued to struggle on a placid pitch allowing the hosts to consolidate their position and reach an impressive 552 or 6 at lunch in the first cricket Test in Colombo on Thursday.
India scalped two wickets in an otherwise frustrating opening session for them, one of them being centurion Thilan Samaraweera (127) who handed a straight forward catch to VVS Laxman in the second slip of Zaheer Khan.
Wicketkeeper Prasana Jayawardene was the next to go, trying to smack a HarbhajanSingh delivery but holing out to Ishant Sharma at extra cover. He scored 30 runs.
India could have got Dilshan early on when the right hander failed to keep the ball down and went past a diving Laxman in the second slip. But for that, the 32-year-old always was well in command en route to his fifth Test century negotiating all the Indian bowlers with ease.
He got his ton with a boundary off Harbhajan to the deep mid-wicket. Earlier in the day Dilshan hit Kumble for a six past the square leg and followed it with an extra cover boundary off the Indian captain.
Samaraweera showed aggression against both Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma belting the latter between point and deep gully on one occasion and sparing no efforts to accelerate.
To Sharma's credit, he tried to extract swing taking advantage of the new ball and kept the batsmen guessing on occasions.
On one occasion, the bowl went over the leg stump and above wicket keeper's head for a boundary in deep fine leg.
Sharma had to consult the physio when a Samaraweera drive struck him in his ankle, leaving him hobbling. However, he resumed bowling after being cleared of any major injuries.
The Sri Lankan batsmen tried to keep the score board ticking taking advantage of the gaps though Indians were agile on the field on Friday.
Zaheer preferred to bowl from close to the stumps and was able to extract some movement albeit without any success. Play started 30 minutes early to make up for the loss due to rain on the first day.
Brief scores:
Sri Lanka first innings: 600 for 6 declared in 162 overs India first innings: 131 for 4 in 35 overs (G Gambhir 39, V Sehwag 27, S Ganguly 27 not out; M Muralitharan 2-38, A Mendis 1-38, N Kulasekara 1-40).
