Virender Sehwag blasted a quickfire unbeaten 128 as India started with a dramatic collapse which saw the visitors losing four wickets in the span of 20 balls on a rain-truncated opening day of the second Test against Sri Lanka on Thursday.

The flashy Sehwag serrated up his 15th Test century but India, who were cruising along comfortably at 167 for no loss, lost four wickets in quick succession to reach 214 for four when play was called off early because of bad light.

The complexion of the game changed unexpectedly after play resumed following a rain interruption as paceman Chaminda Vaas and ‘mystery’ spinner Ajantha Mendis ripped through the top order to help the islanders claw back brilliantly.

While Sehwag played with characteristic flair, the quick dismissals of opener Gautam Gambhir (56), Rahul Dravid (2), Sachin Tendulkar (5) and Sourav Ganguly (0) has dented India’s hopes of posting a big first innings total on what appeared to be a good batting strip at the Galle International stadium.

2nd Test India vs Sri Lanka at Galle – Jul 31-Aug 4, 2008
Match scheduled to begin at 10:15 local time (04:45 GMT).

Sri Lanka squad

(captain)DPMD Jayawardene, TM Dilshan, (wicketkeeper)HAPW Jayawardene, CK Kapugedera, KMDN Kulasekara, BAW Mendis, M Muralitharan, KTGD Prasad, TT Samaraweera, KC Sangakkara, LPC Silva, T Thushara, WPUJC Vaas, MG Vandort, BSM Warnapura

India squad

(captain)A Kumble, R Dravid, G Gambhir, SC Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, (wicketkeeper)KD Karthik, Z Khan, VVS Laxman, PP Ojha, MM Patel, (wicketkeeper)PA Patel, V Sehwag, I Sharma, RG Sharma, RP Singh, SR Tendulkar