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India - Sri Lankan openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Tharanga Paranavitana got away to a confident start and reached 37 without loss at lunch Tuesday after India was dismissed for 426 on the second morning of the first cricket Test.
Dilshan and Paranavitana were unbeaten on 18 apiece at the interval after the Sri Lankan bowlers rallied with four wickets after India had resumed at 385 for six.
Off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, playing what could be his final Test series on foreign soil, took three wickets in the session.
But it was rookie paceman Chanaka Welegedara who made the early breakthrough, as he had on Monday, by removing Rahul Dravid for his overnight score of 177.
Dravid had withstood Welegedara's damaging first spell on Monday, when he took three wickets and had the hosts reeling at 32-4, and led India's innings revival in important partnerships with Yuvraj Singh (68) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (110).
But Welegedara knocked back the stumps in the second over on Tuesday when Dravid left a big gap between bat and pad as he attempted to drive down the ground.
Dravid's brilliant innings lifted him to fifth in the all-time Test scorers after Sachin Tendulkar (12 777), Brian Lara (11 953), Ricky Ponting (11 345) and Allan Border (11 174).
He faced 261 deliveries and hit 26 boundaries and a six in a display of brilliant temperament and strokemaking.
Muralitharan ran through the Indian tailenders as he trapped Zaheer Khan lbw for 12, bowled Harbhajan Singh for 22 and got last man Ishant Sharma stumped without scoring.
Welegedera finished with 4-87 while Muralitharan returned 3-97.
