Captain Kumar Sangakkara struck his 22nd Test hundred as Sri Lanka exposed the fragile Indian bowling attack by reaching 228 for one at tea in the first of the three-match Test series here on Sunday.
Sangakkara (100 batting) and Tharanga Paranavitana (95 batting) were still going strong at the tea interval as they captalised on a strong start of 91 for one at lunch after electing to bat at an easy Galle Inrternational Stadium pitch.
The duo treated the hapless Indian bowling attack with disdain by sharing 173 runs for the unfinished second wicket as Sri Lanka looked set for a big first day total.
The depleted Indian attack without strike bowler Zaheer Khan and S. Sreesanth due to injuries, were at the receiving end of a solid Sri Lankan batting display and went wicketless in the whole of the extended second session. They conceded 137 runs in 38 overs bowled in the session.
The lone Sri Lankan wicket so far — that of Tillakaratne Dilshan (25) — was taken by debutant pacer Abhimanyu Mithun, his first Test scalp, in the morning session.
To compound the matters for India, their most experienced bowler Harbhajan Singh suffered from after effects of a bout of flu and apparently a hamstring problem. He went off the field mid-way into the post-lunch session but returned after 20 minutes.
Sangakkara and Paranavitana, who were on 25 and 35 at lunch break, played sensible innings as they mixed caution with aggression to deny any success to the Indians in the swansong Test for off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Sangakkara, the more aggressive of the two, was in fine touch punishing the Indian bowlers whenever they erred in line and length.
The Sri Lankan captain, who went past West Indian Gordon Greenidge to become the 24th most prolific Test batsman, was dropped when on 65 off part-timer Virender Sehwag, who was introduced midway in the second session, with his counterpart and wicket-keeper Dhoni failing to pouch an edge.
Opener Paranavitana was more circumspect initially waiting for bad balls but he opened up after reaching his fifty, fifth in 11 Tests.
India also missed a half chance to remove Paranavitana when on 51 with a forward diving Yuvraj failing to reach the ball after the Sri Lankan opener cut uppishly a Sehwag delivery.
Those couple of chances were all the Indians had as the bowlers lacked penetration and consistency to trouble the Sri Lankans.
Paranavitana went on to score his best Test score in his 11th match, his earlier best being 73 against Pakistan in Colombo last year.