Dilshan, Sanga punish India attack

It's Sri Lanka all the way in the second session as well. The visitors added 118 runs from 26 overs for a solitary wicket of Paranavitana in the post-lunch session, taking the team’s total to 155 for 1. The star of the session was Tillakaratne Dilshan who dominated the proceedings with his 88 off 106 balls.

Tillakaratne Dilshan who dominated the proceedings with his 88 off 106 balls. © AFP

With Sri Lanka going smoothly at 60-odd for no loss in 15 overs, Dhoni turned to Amit Mishra for a breakthrough. Dilshan welcomed Mishra with two back-to-back boundaries. In spite of going for 10 runs off his first over, Mishra continued to flight the ball and tempt the batsmen to hit out.

Just when the two openers were looking comfortably settled to put up a big stand, Ishant Sharma struck. He removed Paranavitana with a delivery that left the batsman, taking an outside edge with keeper Dhoni pulling off a stunning catch, diving to his wrong side. But it turned out to be a lone moment of cheer for the home team as the Sri Lankan skipper, Kumar Sangakkara showed his class straight away as he helped himself to a couple of effortless boundaries off Mishra’s short-pitched deliveries.

Dhoni took Ishant off and re-introduced Harbhajan, who offered a gift first up to Dilshan, which the batsman accepted with glee, slapping it to the cover boundary. The visitors batted confidently, bringing up the first hundred runs in the 22nd over.

Dilshan carried on impressively and notched up his third half-century against India and on this ground. The Indian spinners continued to struggle against the Lankan batsmen, who gave them a very little margin for error and punished even the slightest of wavering deliveries.

Sangakkara and Dilshan continued to steady the Lankan ship after Paranavitana’s dismissal and added 50 runs in just 54 balls.

Frustration continued for the Indians as an edge off Dilshan’s bat fell strikingly short of Laxman standing at the second slip. The spinners’ persistence didn’t pay off and Dhoni turned back to his strike-spearhead, Zaheer Khan. But it didn’t make any difference to the batsmen, especially Dilshan, who picked up 10 runs off Zaheer’s first over, slashing him for two boundaries. In desperation, the Indian skipper threw the ball to Yuvraj Singh in the second last over before tea but without any success.