While three balls before lunch blew a yawning gap in the Sri Lankan fortifications and 16 wickets fell during a remarkable two and a half sessions on a day of drama, and yet the lasting memory of this second Test is that of Virender Sehwag.
It was Sehwag's spirit that lifted the side as he carved yet another niche in the annuals of the game. It also earned him the Man of the Match award and helped expunge the nightmare of the Sinhalese Sports Club defeat eight days earlier through victory by 170 runs.
You are not going to see too many innings of the quality he produced to inspire India to make the most of their opportunities.
An undefeated innings of 200 which was more than 60 percent of team's first innings total explains just how much his effort has lifted his as well as the team's profile in this series.
In a pre-match interview Anil Kumble talked about the team spending quality time together and offered the comments that suggested the players were prepared to accept the responsibility for the heavy first Test defeat.
"Being one down is being one down – whether it is in Australia or Sri Lanka. We have come from behind before to level a series," he said. "It won't be the first time it has happened and I know it won't be the last. We are all aware of what we need to do to win this match.
"It is a matter of regrouping and I think we have doing that," he added. "We have spent quality time. We have been discussing issues and discussing how to cope and how we can come back. We have done that in the past.
"This is a team with a lot of experience to fall back on and I know we put on a better show," he commented.
That was last week when the pressure on the side to perform was immense after the mauling at SSC and the need to look at where the team was going in terms of trying to win this Idea Series.
Apart from Sehwag following his double century with a compelling second innings fifty, there were the 10 wickets that Harbhajan Singh bagged for 153 runs. But they are statistics and are expected from world-class players.
Among all this, however, is the pre-lunch spell on Sunday from teenager Ishant Sharma who dismissed two big names in the Sri Lanka camp – first was Milantha Warnapura for a duck the ninth ball of the innings and then in his next over followed it up by cleaning Lanka's captain Mahela Jayawardene. His three for 20 in 15 overs has made up for his lack of success this tour.
With Zaheer Khan getting rid of Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lanka's defences had been seriously breached. It was going to require a lot of hard work to overcome such a major dismantling of the top order and the danger signals were already there.
India crumbled from an overnight 200-4 to 269, an innings effort that was dominated by use of the referral system that didn't help for smooth running of the game as six wickets were lost in about 80 minutes.
If Sri Lanka thought they could overcome the pitch conditions as well as their bowling attack and score the 309 needed, no one was mentally attuned to what was going on. This is where Sharma's effort needs to be taken into account. He showed old fashioned fire and brimstone as he took out those early wickets.
Jayawardene shaped for the cut, maybe a risky shot under the circumstances and his words of that old cliché of how records are as good as your last match come to mind. Rahul Dravid took the catch neatly enough, although the ball was flying.
It was also the accurate sniper fire of lanky fast bowler Sharma who broke through in the first over after tea when he had Tillekeratne Dilshan caught behind by a ball which forced the all-rounder to push ungainly at the delivery and edge a catch.
It left Sri Lanka 115 for five in the first over after the interval and meant that Thilan Samaraweera would need to put together a monumental effort to attempt to win this game as India closed in for a series-levelling victory.
From that point, however, the innings became a shuttle service as wickets fell with no way back into the match.
But Dilshan wicket falling so soon after the break to Sharma meant that all the hard work of the fifth wicket partnership of 76 went for nothing the way Dilshan lost his wicket.
While Samaraweera put together an impressive half century and Sri Lanka recovered from 37-4 at the end of the 20th over, the fall of Dilshan meant that the impetus which Sehwag's two innings had kept India going was not being wasted.
The Samaraweera-Dilshan partnership was notable for its rotation of the strike as they built a total on sound understanding that has often served Sri Lanka well in the past. They batted with care and attention as Harbhajan and Anil Kumble tried to break through after the lanky Michael van Dort was trapped lbw by Harbhajan for 10.
Playing back on this surface is not technically wise unless you are competent and there are few batsmen who can do it with such effect these days.
Both batsmen looked comfortable until Sharma was brought back into the attack and the pace, bounce and length unsettled both batsman although Dinesh Karthik's appeal for a catch gave the impression that the wicketkeeper was taking a chance when a referral was made but turned down.
Yet the day has not been without its drama and rarely have the freeloaders enjoying the sun atop the munificent ramparts of Galle Fort experienced such a feast or seen avalanche of wickets in a day's play.
Ajantha Mendis earned his first 10 wicket Test haul with four for 92 to add to his six in the first innings.
Yet for India to stretch the lead past the 300 mark and on a pitch where bounce was often irregular and as near a minefield as you would discover without the mines, required some effort and explains why Sehwag's half century along with that of Gautam Gambhir on day three are important sign posts in an innings where today batsmen have struggle to come to terms with the pitch.
There were several referrals for lbw as well that delayed the flow of the game with Sourav Ganguly surviving one that he requested of the umpire from a Mendis appeal before being stumped by Prasana Jayawardene off Muttiah Muralitharan's flight and guile.
It is a match where pickings have been lean for Murali with five wickets, as India worked hard towards achieving that 300 runs lead.
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