Sri Lanka's uphill task

INDIA tightened their grip on the second Test despite a late recovery by Sri Lanka's senior batsmen in Colombo yesterday.

Set a victory target of 472, the Sri Lankans ended the fourth day on 86 for 2.

Sri Lanka almost caved in when they lost their openers Roshan Mahanama, for 9, and Chandika Hathurusinghe, for 43, in the space of 15 runs. But the left-hander Asanka Gurusinha, on 19 and Aravinda de Silva, on 10, survived to the close against hostile bowling spearheaded by Kapil Dev.