KOLKATA: India's tour of South Africa is still six weeks away, but
Virat Kohli's boys got an early feel of the conditions there on the first day of the opening Test against Sri Lanka here on Thursday. On the eve of the match skipper Kohli had talked about the need to embrace uncomfortable situations. But at the end of a highly truncated day in terms of action - only 11.5 overs were possible - India were precariously placed at 17-3.
Overnight rain delayed the start of the match with no action being possible in the first session of play. Sri Lankan skipper
Dinesh Chandimal did not hesitate to bowl first on winning the toss under overcast conditions when play finally got under way, four hours after the scheduled start.
It was action right from the word go as Sri Lankan pacer
Suranga Lakmal had opener KL Rahul caught behind by Niroshan Dickwella off his very first delivery that left the batsman late.
Rahul became the third batsman to be dismissed off the first ball of a Test match at Eden Gardens. Sudhir Naik had got out to Andy Roberts in 1974-75 and Sunil Gavaskar to Malcom Marshall in 1983-84 against the West Indies. Lakmal almost got through Cheteshwar Pujara's defence, too, with his third ball that nipped back sharply into the batsman.
Shikhar Dhawan's ploy of going on an all-out attack proved foolhardy. After hitting Lahiru Gamage through point for the first boundary of the innings, Dhawan tried similar tactics against Lakmal and ended up dragging the ball on to his stumps.
While Lakmal maintained a perfect line and length on a green Eden Gardens pitch and made the batsman play most of the deliveries, Gamage erred in line.
Bad light followed by a drizzle prompted the umpires to take an early tea break. Lakmal picked up the prized scalp of Kohli soon after resumption of play. The India skipper, who has perished edging deliveries outside the off-stump in recent times, was beaten by a Lakmal delivery that cut back and trapped him in front of the stumps.
Kohli was quick to review umpire Nigel Llong's decision, but replays confirmed that the ball would have gone on kiss the leg stump. India, thus lost their captain, but retained the review.
Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane held fort after another short rain interruption before bad light ended the action and the excitement.
Sri Lanka skipper Chandimal employed just two pacers and Lakmal stole the show with a fabulous spell, finishing with dream figures of 6-6-0-3.
Earlier, Sri Lanka went into the match with Dasun Shanaka, a seambowling all-rounder as their third pacer while India too picked three pacers in Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, releasing Ishant Sharma for Ranji Trophy duty. Bengal pacer Pankaj Shaw has been asked to join the India squad.
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