MuralitharanCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP):
Muttiah Muralitharan shattered India's star-studded top order yesterday with four wickets to put Sri Lanka firmly in command of the first Test.
India closed the third day's play at 159-6 in reply to the hosts' 600-6 declared - a score that included a Sri Lankan record-equaling four centuries.
India need a further 241 runs to avoid the follow-on, with just four lower order wickets in hand.
"We did not play well ... poor shot-making today," India coach Gary Kirsten said. "Everyone has reasons to be disappointed and everyone has a lot of hard work to do to save this Test match."
Muralitharan took four for 38, picking up the wickets of opener Gautam Gambhir (39), Sachin Tendulkar (27), Sourav Ganguly (23) and Dinesh Karthik (9).
At stumps, V.V.S. Laxman was on 19 with captain Anil Kumble on one.
national Test record
"We are aware of the way we played. Out of the six wickets, four of them were not the greatest of shots," Kirsten said.
Earlier, Tillakaratne Dilshan made the most of his reprieve under cricket's new laws to hit an unbeaten 125 and became the fourth batsman to score a century in Sri Lanka's innings - equalling the national Test record.
Dilshan was on one Thursday when he became the world's first batsman to benefit from cricket's new experimental law that allows a player to challenge an umpiring decision. He was initially given out caught behind, but after challenging that decision, it was referred to the third umpire, who ruled there was no contact between bat and ball.
"I have played well during the past six months, but missed out on a couple of centuries," Dilshan said.
Dilshan's performances had been under scrutiny and he said he was aware that he could be replaced.
"Now, I have proved that I can play well at No 6," Dilshan said.
Captain Mahela Jayawardene (136), Malinda Warnapura (115) and Samaraweera (127) also scored centuries.
