KANPUR: Openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir hit sparkling centuries to give India a flying start in the second cricket Test against Sri Lanka here on Tuesday.

Sehwag scored 131 off 122 balls and shared 233 runs for the opening wicket with Gambhir as India reached 307-1 at tea on the first day of the match at the Green Park stadium.

Gambhir was unbeaten on 140 off 173 balls with 13 fours while first-Test centurion Rahul Dravid was on 32 at the break.

The opening pair set India up for a big first-innings total on a track that offered little assistance to the bowlers, after captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat.

Sehwag reached his 16th Test century with a fine-leg boundary off Muttiah Muralitharan and then hit the off-spinner for three fours in a row.

But Muralitharan got his revenge soon after by having Sehwag caught by Tillakaratne Dilshan at short cover. Sehwag's three-hour stay at the wicket yielded 18 fours and two sixes.

Gambhir completed his eighth Test century in style, dancing down the track to Rangana Herath for a four to the long-off fence, and looked set for a bigger score.

The Indian openers did well to negotiate challenging early-morning conditions and avoid a repeat of events at the drawn first Test in Ahmedabad, which saw the hosts reduced to 32-4 early in the first session.

Sehwag, who was dropped in the slips while yet to get off the mark, overcame a subdued start to hit his trademark shots against both the quicks and the spinners on the way to his 20th Test 50.

He twice drove fast bowler Angelo Mathews to mid-off for fours before smashing a full toss from unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis to the deep mid-wicket fence for the first six of the match.

Gambhir was equally aggressive in his shot-making, forcing Herath off the attack after he hit the left-arm spinner for three fours in his opening over.

Mendis, who had picked up 26 wickets in Sri Lanka's 2-1 Test victory at home last year, looked particularly out-of-sorts, conceding 73 runs off his 12 overs.

Dravid, who made a fine 177 in India's first innings in Ahmedabad, had so far hit four fours in his 62-ball knock.

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