Gambhir, Kohli steadies the ship

In one swift act of acceleration, and solid consolidation thereafter, Upul Tharanga almost single-handedly undid India's much-improved new-ball bowling and ground fielding. Tharanga's seventh century, his first in 53 innings and more than three years, made sure Sri Lanka recovered from the slowest start of the series, as well as the early dismissals of Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sanath Jayasuriya. India's fielding was a huge improvement over their earlier efforts, but they still dropped Tharanga and Kumar Sangakkara. That cost them 171 runs, and left them chasing 300-plus - a total that did scant justice to the efforts of Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra who took 4 for 117 between them.

Before Tharanga opened up, though, some of the best opening bowling of the series was on display, making his effort all the more significant. Both Zaheer and Nehra came out with an effective plan for the Sri Lanka openers, and implemented it to near perfection. They kept two men on the leg-side boundary for Dilshan, the third man was left vacant, but no room was given and neither was he offered anything to drive.

As a result, India managed their first maiden of the series - bowled by Nehra - and not one boundary was conceded in the first five overs. In the first three matches, Sri Lanka reached their 50 in 3.4 overs, 6.3 overs, and 7.2 overs. At those various stages, Sri Lanka had scored 6 for 0, 23 for 0 and 24 for 0 today. It could have been worse for them had Nehra held on to a tough return catch from Tharanga, who was 7 then. The spell of containment proved too much for Dilshan, who finally pulled Nehra to fine leg, where Kohli took a smart low catch.

The dropped catch apart, Tharanga kept the bowlers at bay. He manufactured a couple of shots, backing away and pulling over mid-on, and made sure Sri Lanka were always one special over away from getting back on even terms. The moment arrived when Ishant Sharma was introduced, with the score 48 for 1 after 11 overs. Ishant provided him driving length, and also width. The first ball was slapped square, the second driven to cover where Raina saved four, the third lofted over point, the fourth and fifth gorgeously threaded through the gap between mid-off and extra cover, and a thick edge off the last ball ran fine of third man. All of a sudden, Tharanga was 45 off 43 balls.

Even through Zaheer got rid of Jayasuriya in the next over, the momentum was lost when Harbhajan Singh dropped Kumar Sangakkara at third man, off Ishant. Sangakkara got off the mark with the reprieve, and to rub it in, Tharanga crashed the next ball through the covers, bringing up his 10th boundary and his fifty in 45 balls.

A period of consolidation followed, and the pair added 126 runs in 23.4 overs without any concern. Tharanga continued to torment Ishant though, hitting back-to-back boundaries in his fifth over, and sent him out of the attack with figures of 0 for 55 in six overs. During the partnership, Tharanga cruised through to his century at nearly a run a ball, and Sangakkara looked ominous as he accelerated to another fifty. But he got too adventurous, and looked to paddle Harbhajan into the V behind the wicket, and was stumped.

However, the visitors were poised for the late assault. Zaheer and Nehra came back with good finishing spells, but India were shocked by debutant Thissara Perera who smashed 31 off 14 balls. To restore balance, Zaheer removed Tharanga, and Nehra accounted for Perera and Mahela Jayawardene. With the forces pulling in opposite directions, and failed flood lights providing a hold-up that would eat into the supper break, Sri Lanka added 79 in the last eight overs.