Riding on brilliant centuries by Rohan Gavaskar (173) and Gautam Gambhir (131), India 'A' mustered a lead of 216 runs on the penultimate day of the four-day match against Sri Lanka 'A' at the Nehru stadium in Pune on Monday.

Resuming at their overnight score of 203 for 3, India 'A' went on to post a mammoth 556 for seven, thanks to sparkling performances by the Indian batsmen.

Gavaskar slammed 173 runs, off 308 balls and had 12 hits to the fence, while Gambhir scored 131, off 218 balls with 19 boundaries.

Ajay Ratra also chipped in by contributing 68 runs before being stumped by P Jawawardene off R Hearth.

Ramesh Powar, who hit two sixes, was not out on 64 with Murali Kartik on 10 when stumps were drawn for the day.

For Sri Lanka 'A', A K Weerratne and R Hearth took two wickets each while L Malinga and O Wijesiriwardene bagged one each.

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka 'A' (1st innings): 340

India 'A' (1st innings):
S S Das c L Desliva b Wijesiriwardene 16
Gautam Gambhir c L Desliva b K Weerartne 131
M Kaif st Jayawardene b Hearth 28
S Sriram run out 3
Rohan Gavaskar c I Daniel b Malinga 173
Ambati Rayudu lbw K Weerartne 40
Ajay Ratra st Jayawardene b Hearth 68
Ramesh Powar not out 64
Murali Kartik not out 10

Extras: (b-4, lb-8, nb-10, w-1) 23

Total: (for 7 wkts in 150 overs) 556

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-130, 3-138, 4-235, 5-297, 6-440, 7-530.

Bowling: L Malinga 15-1-77-1, O Wijeshriwardene 14-3-53-1, K Weerratne 31-5-117-2, R Hearth 47-7-140-2, C Mudalige 34-1-117-0, A Polonovita 7-2-26-0 and J Mubarak 2-0-14-0.