Virender Sehwag stood bravely amid the ruins with a swashbuckling unbeaten 201, before Harbhajan Singh scalped four wickets to leave the second cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka evenly poised at the end of the second day in Galle on Friday.

The dashing Sehwag again did the bulk of the scoring as the Indians folded up for 329 in their first innings, with 'mystery' spinner Ajantha Mendis tormenting them with a six-wicket haul.

The hosts then lost opener Michael Vandort in the very first over but recovered to some extent through a 133-run second wicket partnership between Malinda Warnapura (66) and Kumar Sangakkara (68) even though they still trail India by 114 runs.

But Harbhajan (4/71) then broke the Lankan backbone to leave the hosts 215 for five at close on an absorbing second day's play. Captain Mahela Jayawardene (46) and Prasana Jayawardene (5) were at the crease at stumps on a day, which saw as many as 11 wickets tumble at the Galle International stadium.

Resuming at the overnight score of 214 for four, the Indian innings came to an end just at the stroke of lunch with Sehwag carrying his bat through for his unbeaten 201, which contained 22 boundaries and four sixes.

Sehwag and the stylish VVS Laxman (39), the two overnight batsmen, showed signs of consolidating the innings but Mendis provided the breakthrough for the the hosts by evicting Laxman. None of the other batsmen could hang around for long as the remaining five wickets fell for the addition of just 51 runs.

Mendis, whose mesmerising variations and guiles have troubled the Indians, was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers as he recorded his maiden five-wicket haul, finishing with impressive figures of 28-1-117-6.

The Indians, who desperately needed to win the match to keep themselves afloat in the three-match series, will now have to stop the islanders from piling up a mammoth first innings total to remain in the game.

With three full days remaining in the crucial Test, the home team has a slight advantage at this stage.

Lankan turn

The Sri Lankan innings began on a disastrous note with paceman Zaheer Khan firing the first salvo by getting rid of Michael Vandort (4) in his very first over.

The tall left-hander got a thick inside edge of Khan which was well taken by Rahul Dravid at the third slip at his individual score of 4.

But Sangakkara and Warnapura then got into a one-day mould, scoring at more than one run a minute during the first hour after lunch, hitting Zaheer and Ishant Sharma all over the ground.

During his first spell, Ishant in one over was hit for two boundaries - one to the point and the other to cover - much to the glee of the over 7000 strong crowd. It was then Sangakkara's turn to execute the tall and lanky Indian pacer to cover boundary.

The wicket keeper-batsmen then took Harbhajan head on, dispatching him to two consecutive cover drives. Sangakkara took 69 balls to complete his 26th half century. Warnapura then hoicked Kumble to the long on for a six and Sri Lanka's 100 runs came in a quick 120 balls in 87 minutes.

Harbhajan could have had Sangakkara but for a miss by Dinesh Kaarthick who could not collect the ball to stump him.

The off-spinner finally removed Warnapura in the 35th over when Gautam Gambhir took a sharp catch and in his next over, Harbhajan induced a leading edge from Sangakkara for a caught and bowled decision.

Though Mahela Jayawardene looked rock solid, Harbhajan struck twice in the 53rd over to peg back the Lankans.

Harbhajan trapped Thilan Samaraweera (14) with the third ball of the over and three balls later, he had Tillakratne Dilshan (0) caught by Gambhir at forward short leg as the Lankans lost their top half for 192 runs.

Both the Jayawardenes, however, played cautiously to ensure there was no further loss on the second day of the match.