Ton for Shikhar Dhawan, turn for Sri Lanka

PALLEKELE: For the first session and a few overs after that, the opening day of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium seemed to be sticking to a predictable, boring script.

For the third consecutive time in this series, India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first. As was the case in the first Test in Galle, the Lankans let off Shikhar Dhawan early. This time he was only on 1. In just the third over, the left-hander nicked a drive off left-arm seamer Vishwa Fernando between second and third slip, who were both a bit late in reacting.

Dhawan went on to score his sixth Test hundred (119; 123b, 17x4) and the second of the series. KL Rahul (85; 135b, 8x4) feasted on the rather harmless stuff dished out by the Lankan bowlers before lunch. The duo put on 134 in the first session before going past 171 to break Manoj Prabhakar and Navjot Sidhu's 24-year-old record for the highest opening partnership ever on Lankan territory.

However, just as things appeared to be heading south for Lanka, the moment came. After having not given him the ball for the first 39 overs, skipper Dinesh Chandimal seemed to suddenly remember that, though Lanka was missing Rangana Herath, they had another left-arm spinner in Malinda Pushpakumara. Dancing down the track to put the tweaker off his length and confidence right away, Rahul committed a bit of hara-kiri as he went to clear mid-on off just the third ball of the bowler's first over. Karunaratne held on to the chance for dear life. With Rahul's dismissal, India lost their momentum for good. From 188-0 in the 40th over, they finished Day One at 3296 in 90 overs. They lost six wickets while adding just 141runs in 303 balls. For the first time in the series, the Lankans showed they could fight with the ball too.

It wasn't as if the wicket changed completely in character, but for some reason, India appeared completely bogged down once Cheteshwar Pujara came in and began blocking everything. After celebrating his century -which came off 107 balls, and included 15 fours -by raising both his hands and making a gesture towards the Indian dressing room (it was related to a new name the team has given him, he would later say), Dhawan, who'd lived by the sword, perished by it. He swept Pushpakumara to square leg, where Chandimal gleefully accepted the offering.

After grinding out a painstaking eight off 33 balls, Pujara tried to cut chinaman bowler Lakshan Sandakan but edged to slip, where Angelo Mathews just about managed to grab the chance. It was strange to see the in-form batsman so out of sorts. Ajinkya Rahane, too, crawled to a 48-ball 17 before missing a straighter one to become Pushpakumara's third scalp of the day.

Kohli stroked a couple of glorious boundaries during his 84ball 42, but he too hardly seemed to be batting in his usual fluent style. The class batsman eventually paid the price of playing a Sandakan delivery too far from his body, as he edged a drive to slip to leave the young left-arm wrist-spinner delighted, and the Lankan team delirious. 'Keeper Niroshan Dickwella then dived in front of second slip to pull off a brilliant catch which sent Ravichandran Ashwin (31; 75b, 1x4) packing, thus ensuring a dream end to a day which began as a nightmare for the hosts.