Sri Lanka's plan to bat India out of the second Test was on track with Kumar Sangakkara maintaining his aggressive approach to reach his seventh double-century and Mahela Jayawardene continuing his prolific run at the SSC. The hosts had hoped to get 250 more runs on the second day before making India bat, and the pair ensured they would score those runs in quick time.

Sangakkara had neutralised India's spinners just after the first breakthrough on the opening day, and he set about handling the seamers, especially Abhimanyu Mithun, in similar fashion on the second morning. The new ball, just ten overs old, proved useless against Sangakkara, whose confidence was evident in his standing well outside the crease even before the first ball was delivered. And India could not have had a more demoralising start, as Mithun was driven either side of the pitch for fours off the first two balls of the day.

The Indian seamers had erred in length on the first day, bowling consistently short, though they tried to make amends on the second, getting the batsmen to play forward. Both Mithun and Ishant Sharma pitched the ball fuller, but with no assistance from the conditions whatsoever, they had little hope of making inroads. Too often they strayed on the pads, to be flicked and driven through the on side and Sangakkara, especially, was unforgiving on any half-volley that came his way. He did drop his guard on occasion, though, edging one just after second slip had been removed by MS Dhoni - one of three consecutive boundaries off Mithun that helped him reach 150.

Jayawardene was quieter at the start with his captain taking the bulk of the strike and ensuring a fluent flow of runs. But he opened up against Ishant, who served up some juicy deliveries on the pads to be taken for three fours - through fine leg, midwicket and over mid-on. While there was a bit more bounce on offer for the spinners, who targeted a couple of rough patches on the track and attacked with more close-in fielders, the pair used their feet to see off any quiet periods. Sangakkara employed the sweep and kept piercing the off-side field with cuts and dabs, and both batsmen charged the spinners to clear mid-on and midwicket.

As he approached his third double-century at the SSC, Sangakkara went after Ojha, heaving him from outside off over midwicket and sweeping him twice to collect four fours in five balls and reach 199. He reached the landmark in streaky fashion, edging Harbhajan just past slip, to extend India's suffering.