The class of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene" Sri Lanka~s two best batsmen by far" shone through yet again in testing conditions at the Premadasa Stadium' On a pitch offering bounce and movement" India~s new)ball pair of Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan troubled Sri Lanka~s top order and prized out three wickets with only 20 on the board" but Sangakkara and Jayawardene showed ) not for the first time in their glittering careers ) how to handle these conditions' By the halfway stage in their innings" Sri Lanka had progressed to 114 for 3" a far more comfortable position than 20 for 3 after six'

Neither batsman took risks" and yet neither of them got bogged down" mixing the boundaries with expertly judged singles to keep the Indians on the backfoot' Sangakkara was the more fluent batsman early on" with two magnificent fours• a picture perfect straight)drive off Zaheer" and a caressed square)drive off Irfan' From the start of his innings he was at ease" whether covering the movement to defend" or playing more extravagant strokes' More than once" he stole quick singles by playing with soft hands" in the gaps'

Jayawardene was more circumspect at the start ) he scored one run off his first 12 balls' Once he got his eye in" though" the runs came quickly' When Irfan erred in line by drifting towards leg" Jayawardene flicked majestically over square leg to suggest that he was done with playing defensively' In Rahul Sharma~s first over" he caressed a square)cut behind point for four" and then strode down the pitch to loft Ashok Dinda over cover' Soon" he was unfurling his whole range" going down the pitch to Rahul and slapping Zaheer past point for fours' He brought up his half)century in the 25th over" with his last 51 runs coming off 55 balls'

The first nine overs of the innings" though" belonged completely to the Indian bowlers' Zaheer and Irfan obtained swing" seam and bounce" and Jayawardene~s decision to bat first didn~t seem such a smart one' Tillakaratne Dilshan lasted only seven balls" though his dismissal was a bizarre one• he defended Zaheer off the front foot" and then lost sight of the ball and was looking for a single even as the ball bounced back on to the stumps' Upul Tharanga never settled in and chased a wide one" while Dinesh Chandimal was trapped in front by an Irfan delivery which swung back in' After nine overs" Sri Lanka had lost more wickets than the number of fours they~d managed ^two&' Then" the two best batsmen in the team decided to stamp their class