KANPUR: Venkatsai Laxman and Yuvraj Singh stroked half-centuries as India reached 642 all out shortly after tea on the second day of the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka here on Wednesday.

Laxman (63) hit five fours on the way to his 41st Test half-century while Yuvraj cracked four boundaries and two sixes in his 67-run knock to enthrall a strong 25,000 crowd at the Green Park stadium.

The pair also shared 102 runs for the fifth wicket before Laxman was caught by Tillakaratne Dilshan off left-arm spinner Rangana Herath (5-121).

Herath struck again twice, bowling Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh through the gate to bring some cheer to the Sri Lankan camp in the post-lunch session.

Laxman and the left-handed Yuvraj dominated the second session, mixing caution with aggression in right measure.

Yuvraj got down on his knees to launch Muttiah Muralitharan for a huge six over long-on before smacking Ajantha Mendis for two fours in an over, underlining India's dominance over the spinners on the placid track.

Laxman survived a strong appeal for leg before wicket off Herath although TV replays showed the ball would have clipped his leg-stump.

Dravid earlier smashed 15 fours and a six in his superb 144-run knock and shared 94 runs for the third wicket with Sachin Tendulkar (40) to build on India's overnight score of 417-2.

He was the third Indian batsman to score a century after Gautam Gambhir (167) and Virender Sehwag (131) put on 233 runs for the opening wicket to lay the platform for a huge first innings total.

Dravid, nicknamed the "Wall" for his technically solid batting, reached his 28th century with an elegantly-driven four off left-arm paceman Chanaka Welegedara to the mid-off fence.

The batsman is now ninth in the list of top-10 century makers, surpassing Australia's retired captain Allan Border and Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene, who both have 27 centuries against their names.

Dravid also overtook Border (11,174) to become the fourth highest Test scorer with 11,267 runs behind Tendulkar, West Indies' Brian Lara and Australian skipper Ricky Ponting.

Sri Lanka tasted success early in the morning session when Mendis managed to fox Tendulkar, after struggling without luck on the opening day of the match.

Tendulkar, dropped on 30 when Dilshan failed to latch on to a catch at mid-wicket off quick Angelo Mathews, lofted Mendis for a six but fell in the same over by holing out to Thilan Samaraweera at mid-off.

Dravid was run out in unfortunate circumstances with Herath managing to hit the stumps at the non-striker's end after dropping a sharp drive from Laxman.

The third and final Test begins in Mumbai on December 2.