COLOMBO: Comeback man Cheteshwar Pujara recorded his seventh half-century as India made slow progress to reach 119 for four wickets at lunch on the second day of the third and final test against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Resuming on 50-2, the visitors lost captain Virat Kohli (18) early but Pujara (55 not out) and Rohit Sharma (26) added 55 for the fourth wicket to prop up the Indian innings in the deciding match of the series, tied at 1-1.

Rohit, who has recently been preferred to Pujara in the test team, fell in the last over before the break, edging paceman Dhammika Prasad to Upul Tharanga at first slip.

After a rain-hit opening day when just 15 overs of play was possible, Sri Lanka came back strongly with Prasad troubling the batsmen on numerous occasions.

India's scoring opportunities soon dried up and captain Angelo Mathews benefited from the build-up of pressure when Kohli edged behind to give debutant wicketkeeper Kusal Perera, who had dropped the batsman on Friday, his first test catch.

Pujara, playing his first test since the Boxing Day match against Australia in December, and Kohli added 50 for their third-wicket stand.

The right-handed Pujara looked solid in defence but failed to rotate the strike and only found his scoring touch when Mathews introduced off-spinner Tharindu Kaushal into the attack.

He hit Kaushal for three consecutive boundaries and then completed his fifty with a pull shot for a single to mid-wicket.

India looked set to go to the break for just the loss of Kohli in the morning session but Prasad's inspired spell garnered another breakthrough when he found Rohit's edge with the interval looming.