By IANS,
Colombo : Kumar Sangakkara steered Sri Lankan innings with an unbeaten 48 as the hosts reached 102 for two at lunch in the third cricket Test against India at P.Sara Oval here Tuesday.
Sri Lanka lost the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan (41) at the stroke of lunch.
Sangakkara won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that provided assistance to seamers.
Indian fast bowler Ishant Sharma got the first wicket in the fourth over as he had
Tharanga Paranavitana (8) caught behind by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Dilshan and Sangakkara put on 87 runs for the second wicket.
Sangakkara was lucky to be dropped by Suresh Raina, who came in way of second slip V.V.S.Laxman, off pacer Abhimanyu Mithun.
Sachin Tendulkar became the most capped player in Test cricket, surpassing
Australian Steve Waugh’s record of 168 Tests.
India are without opener Gautam Gambhir and leading spin bowler Harbhajan Singh due to injuries. Raina, who scored a century on debut in the second Test, retained his place in the side at the expense of Yuvraj Singh.
Murali Vijay has replaced Gambhir while leg spinner Amit Mishra has taken Harbhajan’s place.
For Sri Lanka, pace bowler Lasith Malinga, who missed the second Test because of injury, replaced Dilhara Fernando. Left arm pacer Chanaka Welegedera came in place on Dammika Parasad.