Sri Lanka's captain Angelo Mathews and debutant Kusal Perera put on a century partnership to frustrate India's victory bid in the third and final Test in Colombo on Tuesday.
The sixth-wicket pair batted through a major part of the afternoon session to lift the hosts from a shaky 107-5 before lunch to 249-6 in their second knock by tea on the fifth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club.
Sri Lanka will begin the post-tea session 137 runs away from surpassing the victory target of 386 with a possible 36 overs remaining, while India will seek to claim the remaining four wickets.
Mathews went to the break unbeaten on 110, his seventh Test century and the second in succession after making 102 in the second Test.
Left-handed Perera followed his 55 in the first innings with 70, becoming only the second Sri Lankan after Dinesh Chandimal to score two half-centuries in his debut Test.
The pair added 135 runs before Perera fell shortly before tea, playing a reverse sweep off Ravichandran Ashwin straight to Rohit Sharma at point.
Rangana Herath kept Mathews company at tea on three.
India grabbed two key wickets on the fifth morning when Sri Lanka resumed at the overnight score of 67-3.
Sri Lanka added seven runs when they lost opener Kaushal Silva for 27, caught at mid-wicket by Cheteshwar Pujara attempting to hook Umesh Yadav.
Left-hander Lahiru Thirimanne made 12 when an alert Lokesh Rahul at silly point pounced on the ball and held it on second attempt as a delivery from Ashwin found an outside edge.
Mathews reached his century by pulling medium-pacer Stuart Binny for his 12th boundary and celebrated the feat by driving the next ball to mid-on for another four.
Sri Lanka won the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs, but India drew level with a 278-run win in the second match at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo.
India are looking to win their first Test series in Sri Lanka since 1993 when Mohammad Azharuddin's men secured a 1-0 victory.– AFP