CRICKET AUSTRALASIA

Tillakaratne Dilshan weighed in with a century and Muttiah Muralitharan claimed four wickets as Sri Lanka took firm command of the first Test against India on the third day.

Sri Lanka declared on 6-600 just after lunch and then proceeded to take six wickets at a cost of 159 with India still needing 242 runs to avoid the follow-on. VVS Laxman was batting on 19 and with him was Anil Kumble on one.

Play was called off nine overs early due to bad light.

India had gone into tea at 1-73, Nuwan Kulasekara striking early to dismiss Virender Sehwag (25).

Sehwag had plotted his own downfall when he attempted to hit one boundary too many. The opener had slammed five boundaries in 15 deliveries and attempted to pull a bouncer from Kulasekara for another.

Sehwag managed only a top edge, which flew to Malinda Warnapura at square leg.

Thereafter Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis relentlessly piled on the pressure and struck vital blows immediately after tea to leave India precariously placed.

Muralitharan first snared Gambhir for 39, luring the left-hander into a drive which resulted in a simple catch for Thilan Samaraweera at short cover.

Mendis then chimed in, claiming the prized wicket of Rahul Dravid as his first Test victim.

The veteran batsman was confounded by a delivery which pitched on middle stump, deviated slightly to beat the edge of the bat and crashed into off stump.

Sachin Tendulkar, who walked in needing 172 runs to equal Brian Lara's record of the highest run-getter in Test cricket, looked in fine touch until he was done in by a fine delivery from Muralitharan.

Muralitharan got one to nip back and Tendulkar (27) attempted to shoulder arms only for the ball to clip the edge of the bat and crash into the stumps.

Sourav Ganguly survived a shout for leg before off Mendis, on-field umpire Billy Doctrove ruling in favour of the batsman. Mahela Jayawardene, however, called for a review and third umpire Rudi Koertzen endorsed Doctrove's decision.

It leaves Sri Lanka with only two challenges in tact under the new system.

But there was no need to call on Koertzen when Ganguly (23) failed to keep an attempted sweep off Muralitharan down, only to be caught by Kulasekara at deep square leg.

Dinesh Karthik (9) followed up a tardy performance with the gloves with an equally inept show with the bat. He was caught and bowled by Muralitharan leaving India deep in trouble.

In the morning, India had exhausted all three chances to challenge umpire decisions.

Skipper Anil Kumble asked for an lbw decision against Chaminda Vaas to be referred to the Koertzen after the appeal was turned down by Doctrove. Koertzen ruled not out.

Vaas was unbeaten on 22 when the declaration was enforced.

Dilshan, who had continued the task of piling on runs for Sri Lanka, was the other not out batsman on 125.

Dilshan lost his overnight partner Samaraweera for 127 early, but he forged partnerships with Prasanna Jayawardene (30) and Vaas, ensuring a total from which Sri Lanka could not lose.

Samaraweera's wicket was more as a result of a bad shot, rather than a good ball although it did provide India with a small window of opportunity.

The right-handed batsman steered a short, wide delivery from Zaheer Khan straight to Laxman at gully and reacted with disappointment, for a boundary was there for the taking. But hopes of a

quick collapse never materialised.

Prasanna Jayawardene fell to Harbhajan Singh, top-edging a sweep to Ishant Sharma at long leg. He had added 91 runs for the fifth wicket with Dilshan.

Runs were hard to come by early on, but as the Indian bowlers toiled without much success in hot and humid conditions, runs came at a brisk pace.