Kumar Sangakkara after reaching his century in Colombo on Saturday. (AP) Related reports on 18

Colombo: With Parthiv Patel too getting injured in the closing stages of Day II, it seemed the Indians may actually lose as many players as the wickets (five) taken through the day at the P. Sara Stadium.

Saturday, indeed, was miserable for Team India. Just as it was for our shooters in faraway Beijing.

To start with, V.V.S. Laxman sprained his left ankle even before the first ball was bowled. Then, in the afternoon, Sachin Tendulkar “jarred” his left elbow and Ishant Sharma fell on his buttocks. Both went off. Parthiv, who suffered a cut on the nose, stayed put.

The injuries made physio Nitin Patel work overtime.

Worse, the Sri Lankans weren’t dismissed. In fact, they’ve taken a slender (two-run) lead with four wickets in hand. They’ve also wrested the psychological advantage, something that does matter, in the Idea Cup decider.

The hosts were 251 for six when insufficient light forced play to be called off before the day’s quota of 90 overs had been sent down. Within minutes, there was a spell of rain as well.

Sachin didn’t take calls in his room at the Taj Samudra, but both Laxman and Ishant told The Telegraph they were feeling better.

“I’m definitely better, but the ankle is swollen... Let’s see whether, if required, I’ll be able to bat tomorrow,” Laxman said.

Ishant took much the same line: “I’m better, yes, but can’t say whether I can resume bowling in the morning...”

Late at night, a member of the team management indicated that, if required, Sachin would almost certainly bat on Sunday.

Still, there’s plenty to crease captain Anil Kumble’s forehead.

In any case, it’s unlikely that he’s overcome the huge disappointment (and more) of a referral against Thilan Samaraweera inexplicably going in the batsman’s favour.

Umpire Mark Benson didn’t uphold the leg-before appeal and, when a review was called for, Billy Doctrove wasn’t impressed either. It came as a shock.

Samaraweera, who was then on five went on to make 35 and had a decent 60-run partnership with vice-captain and centurion Kumar Sangakkara.

In time, that double let-off could become a turning point and won’t do the referral trial any good.

Sangakkara, who’ll be starting Day III on a solid 107, himself benefited when Rahul Dravid dropped him on 34 off Kumble.

Later, Sachin wasn’t able to snare nightwatchman Chaminda Vaas (yes, he was only dismissed after lunch). That didn’t prove costly in terms of runs, but the senior-most pro landed on his left elbow, causing heartbeats to be missed on both sides of the Palk Strait.

Again, it’s Kumble who was unlucky.

Given that the stakes were so high, Saturday ought to have seen classic cricket. It was competitive in that neither team wanted to lose ground, but it was far from classic. Rather, there were phases when it was boring.

That Vaas (a Test centurion, by the way) couldn’t be dismissed for 11 minutes short of three hours says much about the Indian bowling. But, then, we’ve often had problems evicting nightwatchmen.

Once Vaas went for 47, wickets did come in India’s bag and, for a change, Mahela Jayawardene didn’t find the review going his way. Samaraweera and Tillekeratne Dilshan followed their captain.

Michael Vandort, who has been struggling, had been the one dismissed in the first session — the day’s most productive, with exactly 100 runs.

The least productive period was between lunch and tea, the time to snooze really, when 61 runs were scored in 30 overs. It was, to put it bluntly, a rather uninspiring advertisement for Test cricket.

With Sangakkara dropping anchor instead of authoring the most attractive shots, India’s task has become tougher. He’d been due for a big one and couldn’t have chosen a better moment to get century No. 17.

Speaking exclusively after a session on the physio’s table, Sangakkara said: “Yeah, I had to get a big one, but the job isn’t complete... We need to get as big a lead as possible and it’s not going to be easy...”

If Ishant can’t take the field, as appears likely at this point in time, then it’s going to be tougher for us.