Virat Kohli (76 batting) and Abhinav Mukund (81) put on 133 runs for the third wicket as India reached 189 for three in 46.3 overs at stumps on a rain-affected day three.
Number 11 Nuwan Pradeep survived five dramatic balls from Stuart Broad to help Sri Lanka avoid defeat after James Anderson ripped through the visitors to almost force an England win in the first Test at Lord's in London.
England pacer James Anderson reclaimed the number-one ranking from India's Ravichandran Ashwin in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers released on Monday after the end of the Edgbaston Test.
Some strong performances with the bat will help Joe Root to surge to the top and then potentially strengthen his position in the four-Test series against Pakistan, which begins on 14 July.
Hosts New Zealand gave the World Cup a cracking start with a scintillating batting show as they crushed last edition losing finalists Sri Lanka by 98 runs in the opening match of the showpiece event in Christchurch on Saturday.
Flamboyant left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh says he felt like he rediscovered his old touch en route to a breezy 35, which played a pivotal role in India's five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup match, in Mirpur, on Tuesday.
At a loss to explain Sri Lanka's dismal performance against India, skipper Dinesh Chandimal on Monday said the 0-3 thrashing was the 'worst' Test series of his career and his team has no excuses to offer.
India have won the first two Tests by comprehensive margins -- by 304 runs in Galle and an innings and 53 runs in Colombo.
Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are India's highest-ranked batsman and bowler in third and 13th positions respectively.
India's spinners wreaked havoc on Day 5 as England were bowled out for a paltry 158 to go down by a huge margin of 246 runs in the second Test in Visakhapatnam.
A ball-tampering scandal that devastated Australia cast a dark cloud over a dramatic cricketing year
The Indian captain scored a majestic 213 -- his 19th hundred, en route which he broke a plethora of records in the company of Rohit Sharma (102 no), who got a Test ton after four long years.
India registered just three victories in 11 Tests, worse than even Zimbabwe and the West Indies...
The Indian team's batting woes continued as they lost their opening warm-up tie of the ICC World T20 against Sri Lanka by five runs in Dhaka on Monday.
Brought into the squad only after first-choice opener Murali Vijay was ruled out due to injury, Dhawan made full use of the opportunity and played an entertaining 168-ball innings that was studded with 31 fours. This was his fifth Test hundred.
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com highlights what Virat Kohli needs to ponder about, after the Galle defeat
Impressed with India's aggressive brand of cricket in the two Tests so far, former Sri Lanka pacer Chaminda Vaas on Tuesday said that the five-bowler theory is reaping rich results for the young visiting side.
The 28-year-old Kohli scored 62 and six not out to move to 833 points, within 14 points of England's Joe Root in a list led by Australia captain Steve Smith.
When India lost the Wellington Test by 10 wickets, was it the worst defeat for Virat Kohli's team? Rajneesh Gupta has the answers.
After starting the series with a crushing victory, an upbeat India will aim to maintain their stranglehold over an under-prepared Sri Lanka when they meet in the second ODI in Motera on Thursday.
Back-to-back half-centuries against Sri Lanka were just the confidence-booster Wriddhiman Saha needed as he slowly recovers from a hamstring injury that prevented him from playing in the third Test of the just concluded series.
Chasing a daunting target of 386, the hosts collapsed after skipper Angelo Mathews was dismissed for 110, his seventh Test century, and were dismissed for 268.
Chris Gayle blasted a quickfire century to power West Indies to a comfortable six-wicket victory against Sri Lanka in the opening match of the tri-nation series in Jamaica, on Friday.
Penpix of the Sri Lanka squad for the 2015 cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Their World Cup build-up halted by West Indies team's sudden mid-series pullout, India would resume the preparations for the mega-event when they square off against under-cooked sub-continental rivals Sri Lanka in a hastily-arranged ODI series starting in Cuttack on Sunday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents the interesting numbers from the second day of Kingston Test between West Indies and India
Their frailties against quality spin attack badly exposed in Sri Lanka recently, pace bowling great Glenn McGrath said that the Australians will have to quickly sort out their issues against slow bowlers if they don't want a disaster in their tour of India to play four Tests in February-March next year. "Especially with the way things went in Sri Lanka on turning wickets, they have got a lot of work to do between now and then. The Aussies will find it tough in India unless they turn things around pretty quickly," McGrath told reporters during a promotional event.
Opener Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan slammed centuries to help India humiliate Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 169 runs in the first One-Day International in Cuttack, on Sunday.
India may be weakened by the absence of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but the World champions cannot be taken lightly, especially with a strong batting line-up at their disposal, says Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews.
Bangladesh all-rounder Mahmdullah finished as the MVP in the recently-concluded Asia Cup T20 tournament ahead of compatriot Sabbir Rahman, who was named as the man of the series. Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle present the latest edition of the MVP rankings.
Injuries to key players such as skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma is giving them the jitters but India would still be firm favourites when they take on a depleted and struggling Sri Lanka in their penultimate league encounter of the Asia Cup Twenty20 cricket tournament, in Mirpur, on Tuesday.
India's quest for a historic treble ended in heartbreak as Sri Lanka came up with a clinical performance to beat them by six wickets in the final of the World T20 in Mirpur on Sunday. While Sri Lanka emerged third time lucky in a World T20 summit clash, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's hopes of adding a second World T20 title to the 50-over World Cup triumph in 2011 and Champions Trophy in England two years later ended in disappointment.
Retiring legend Kumar Sangakkara was unable to get a big knock in his swansong Test appearance but Sri Lanka overcame an early jolt to post 140 for 3, after dismissing India for 393 in the first innings, on Day 2 of the second Test in Colombo on Friday.
In terms of days, Dale Steyn has spent 2,320 days at the top of the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers, the most by any bowler since World War II.
Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara eye top 10 places while Ravindra Jadeja jumps to career-best third position among Test all-rounders.
Ricky Ponting discusses Rohit Sharma's inability to dominate Test cricket like he does in ODIs, Virat Kohli's captaincy and the Australian team's poor showing in the Test series in Sri Lanka.
Boosted by their 3-0 clean sweep of Australia Down Under, a confident India would seek to continue their winning momentum when they take on a depleted and new-look Sri Lanka in the first of three T20 Internationals, in Pune, on Tuesday.
Virat Kohli dropped a position to 11th leaving India with no batsmen in the top 10 of the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, in the latest update of the ICC Player Rankings released by the International Cricket Council on Tuesday.
India are in sight of their first series triumph on Sri Lankan soil in 22 years, having reduced the hosts to 67 for 3 after setting them a daunting target of 386 in the third and final Test in Colombo on Friday.
Sri Lanka are never anybody's pre-tournament favourites but when the dust settles there they are.
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