Sri Lanka suffered another setback in their forlorn efforts to save the second Melbourne Test against Australia with star batsman Kumar Sangakkara retiring hurt in the second innings on Friday. Sangakkara, who passed 10,000 Test runs with his knock of 58 in the first innings, left the field on 27 after being rapped on the left index finger by Australian paceman Mitchell Johnson in the 17th over.

He was his side's main hope after the loss of four wickets, including skipper Mahela Jayawardene, in the opening six overs.

Wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene, who suffered a hairline thumb fracture when struck by a Johnson delivery in the first innings, came out to bat upon Sangakkara's injury retirement.

Sri Lanka, trailing by 304 runs on the first innings, were facing a heavy defeat inside three days of the Boxing Day Test after losing the Hobart series opener by 137 runs last week.