Samaraweera puts Sri Lanka ahead

On another day of fluctuating fortunes, Sri Lanka gained a decisive advantage to leave India facing a stiff task in their attempt to level the series. Thilan Samaraweera, supported in a spirited fightback by Ajantha Mendis, revived Sri Lanka's chances on a crumbling pitch by helping set a challenging target. And Suraj Randiv backed that up with three breakthroughs, including Virender Sehwag, to complete the turnaround after India had dominated the first session.

The pressure on India grew with the fluent progress of the Sri Lankan innings even after they had been restricted to 87 for 7. Rarely did Samaraweera or Mendis offer a chance, adapting well to the turn and bounce with solid defence and a steady flow of singles. Just as he had during his century in the first innings, Samaraweera played the ball late and with skilful use of the wrists worked the ball around. There were the timely improvisations as well, as he swept, slog-swept, charged out of the crease to find the boundary and soon enough, as the field spread out, showed plenty of confidence in Mendis by rotating the strike.

Samaraweera's solidity and patience almost ruled out the possibility of a wicket at one end. It must rank as one of his finest knocks, in conditions far tougher than what he faced in several of his grinding centuries. His vigil ended when he tried to pull a short ball fine, gloving a catch to MS Dhoni, but only after the scales had tilted.