Then Sachin Tendulkar blazed to a quick-fire 53 in 54 balls to give India a score of 351 for 3, and four batting bonus points. There was smile on coach Anshuman Gaekwad's face. Finally, the batting clicked. And the runs came in a torrent to give India the initiative after Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga failed to read the wicket on his home turf, the Sinhalese Sports Club.

Contrary to expectations, the wicket turned out to be flat. Ranatunga's decision to play four seamers, including two debutants -- Ruchira Perera and Eric Upashantha -- and opting to field, boomeranged as the Indians tore the inexperienced attack to dominate the day.

India made one change from the team that played in the ill-fated Calcutta match. Left-arm medium pacer Ashish Nehra was the last minute inclusion instead of the other debutant all-rounder Laxmi RatanShukla.

``Since a fair amount of grass was cut off in the morning, we thought Nehra will be more useful on this wicket,'' said Gaekwad. The Indians retained off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. ``We are planning around 550 and then make use of the wicket,'' said Gaekwad.

There was some bounce in the morning and Perera got his maiden Test wicket in his fourth over. Opener VVS Laxman, playing away from his body, edged one to third slip where Mahela Jayawardena fumbled and almost let slip the ball. But an alert Aravinda de Silva, at first slip, brought off a diving catch off the rebound.

It was a perfect start for the home team after winning the toss. But Ramesh was not to let off the opportunity nor Dravid the chance of a long innings on this track. ``It was an ideal wicket for me since it suited my backfoot play,'' said Dravid.

In-form Ramesh, a fast learner with a good temperament, judged the wicket to a nicety. His approach was simple: Stay at the wicket and the runs will come automatically.

Thefour-seam attack of Vaas, Perera, the tall Upashantha and Chandika Hathurasinghe, did not have the pace and variation of Wasim Akram or Shoaib Akhtar to trouble the Indians, who feasted on the loose deliveries.

As expected, the Lankans, without off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, were a helpless lot. Ranatunga was at his wit's end. Vaas, expected to lead the attack, went for 70 runs. His bowling looked toothless and a frustrated Ranatunga had no other option but turn to the off-spin of Russel Arnold and Mahela.

At lunch, India were 95 for 1 in 24 overs. But on resumption, Dravid suddenly waded into the attack and runs came at a fast clip. He even got to his half-century ahead of Ramesh, who too duly completed his fourth half-century in four Tests.

But Ramesh, who was hit by a few rising deliveries from Perera and had to go for a precautionary x-ray on his left-arm later in the evening, came out of his shell. He literally toyed with a tired attack with the heat taking the toll of the Lankans.

The TamilNadu opener had a close shave before reaching his century. This time too it was at 96, the same score he was out in New Delhi. Luckily for him, the throw from mid-on and wicketkeeper Romesh Kaluwitharana's failure to come and gather the throw, helped Ramesh to gain the crease.

Ramesh's hour of glory came when he glided Vaas to third man. He then celebrated his century with three consecutive fours off Perera.

The Ramesh-Dravid partnership, in the process, broke the record of Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar who added 173 runs for the second wicket at Chenai in 1982.

However, a little later, Ramesh failed to keep a drive off Jayawardena and Ranatugna took a good catch at short cover. Dravid, who has hit all his four centuries outside India so far, added one more to his kitty. But soon after reaching the century, he departed, cutting uppishly to Ranatunga.

However, Lanka's misery continued. Tendulkar, determined to get runs, was a man wanting to settle scores in a fitting way. The small 5,000 crowdhad their money's worth as Tendulkar drove and cut with panache to finish the day on a high note with skipper Azharuddin (19) for company.

Scoreboard

India (1st innings): S Ramesh b Jayawardane 143 (214b, 317m, 18 fours), VVS Laxman c De Silva b Perera 11 (37m, 22b, 2x4), R Dravid c Ranatunga b Hathurasinghe 107 (314m, 218b, 12x4), S Tendulkar (batting) 53 (54b, 92m, 10x4); M Azharuddin (batting) 19 (55m, 42b, 2x4). Extras (nb 9, b 5, lb 4): 18.

Total (for 3 wkts, 90 overs): 351.

Fall of Wickets: 1-20 (Laxman, 7.1), 2-252 (Ramesh, 71.3), 3-288 (Dravid, 79).

Bowling: Vaas 22-4-70-0, Perera 19-2-100-1, Upashantha 17-0-68-0, Hathurasinghe 13-2-38-1, Arnold 13-1-46-0, Jayawardane 6-1-18-1.

BONUS POINTS: India 4, Sri Lanka 1.