Tillakaratne Dilshan produced a scintillating century as Sri Lanka put up a spirited batting display to leave the first cricket Test against India evenly poised at the end of the second day in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

After polishing off the remaining four wickets in quick time to restrict India to 426 in the first innings, the in-form Dilshan (112) took centrestage with a fine exhibition of strokeplay to steer the islanders to a comfortable 275 for three at close on the second day.

Dilshan notched up his 10th Test century -- and the fifth this year -- to lay the foundation for a strong Lankan reply in excellent batting conditions at the Motera stadium which again saw more than 300 runs being scored.

Mahela Jayawardene (36) and Thilan Samaraweera (45) were at the crease at stumps with the visitors still trailing the hosts by 151 runs.

Earlier, resuming at the score of 385-6, India lost their last four wickets for 41 runs and were all out soon after the first drinks break to allow the visitors to claw their way back into the game.

The Lankan batsmen then ensured that they kept the team in the hunt for their maiden Test win on Indian soil by batting sensibly right through the day.

Captain Kumar Sangakkara (31) and young opener Tharanga Paranavitana (35) got the starts but could not translate those into big knocks, falling to injudicious shots.

Paceman Zaheer Khan struck twice in quick succession by evicting Dilshan and Sangakkara in the last session with short-pitched deliveries to bring India back into the game but Jayawardene and Samaraweera ensured that there were no further setbacks.

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