India were staring at a possible follow on with their famed batsmen crumbling to spin wizard Muthiah Muralitharan, whose sensational four-wicket haul put Sri Lanka firmly in the driver's seat in the first cricket Test in Colombo on Friday.

Weighed down by Sri Lanka's mammoth first innings total of 600 for six, India found themselves in total disarray with a spineless batting display, which saw them gasping at a precarious 159 for six when play was called off a little early because of bad light.

The visitors still need 242 runs to avoid the ignominy of a follow on and will have to bat out of their skins to save the game at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground, where the track has started showing signs of a gradual deterioration.

The seasoned VVS Laxman (19) and captain Anil Kumble (1) were at the crease at stumps which saw the hosts tightening the noose around their hapless opponents with Tillakaratne Dilshan (125 not out) becoming the fourth player to hit a century.

With Virender Sehwag (25), Gautam Gambhir (39), Rahul Dravid (14), Sachin Tendulkar (27) and Sourav Ganguly (23) having returned to the pavilion, much will depend on the experienced Laxman to pull the team out of the pits. India still trail by 441 runs.

The Indians were done in by Muralitharan, who dismissed Gambhir, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Karthik, and 'mystery' bowler Ajantha Mendis, who produced a gem of a delivery to account for Dravid.

It turned out to be another agonising day for the visitors, who first allowed the hosts to pile up an imposing total and then the batsmen lacked the application to hang around for long.

The 23-year-old Mendis, who created a flutter with his exploits in the Asia Cup, continued to bamboozle the Indian batsmen with his variations.

The Sri Lankans declared their first innings 40 minutes into the second session and the two Indian openers Sehwag and Gambhir gave a flying start but the beligerence was shortlived.

Sehwag made his intentions clear as he slammed paceman Chaminda Vaas to the cover boundary in the very first over. Gambhir followed it with a flowing drive to the long-off boundary of Nuwan Kulasekara in the next over.

Jayawardene chose to set an attacking field to put Indian batsmen under pressure after tiring them out on the field for over two and a half days. Taking advantage of unmanned boundaries,Sehwag went on to hammer Vaas for two consecutive fours, one at mid-on and then at point.

NuwaN Kulasekara provided the breakthrough for the islanders by getting rid of Sehwag, whose pulled shot went straight to Samaraweera in the square leg region.

Muralitharan then consolidated the position for his team by dismissing Gambhir, while Mendis foxed Dravid with a vicious ball to dislodge his off-stump, reducing the Indians to a precarious 79 for three at that stage.

Tendulkar and Ganguly tried to rebuild the innings before Murali again struck for his team by scalping the prized wicket of Tendulkar, who looked quite comfortable during his brief stay at the crease.

Ganguly was the next to return to the pavilion again falling prey to Muralitharan with Kulasekara taking a well-judged catch. Tottering at 138 for five, Dinesh Karthik, who dropped two catches during the Sri Lankan innings, played an irresponsible shot to become's Murali's fouth victim.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 422 for four, the hosts continued to pile up the misery with Dilshan notching up his fifth Test ton.

India scalped two wickets in an otherwise frustrating opening session for them, one of them being centurion. Thilan Samaraweera (127) who handed a straight forward catch to VVS Laxman in the second slip of Zaheer Khan.

Wicketkeeper Prasana Jayawardene was the next to go, trying to smack aHarbhajanSingh delivery but holing out to Ishant Sharma at extra cover. He scored 30 runs.

India could have got Dilshan early onwhen the right hander failed to keep the ball down and went past a diving Laxman in the second slip. But for that, the 32-year-old always was well in command en route to his century, negotiating all the Indian bowlers with ease.