Sri Lanka paceman Lakmal exploits conditions to leave India reeling
India struggled with rain, bad light and Sri Lanka’s bowlers to reach stumps at 17 for three yesterday on day one of the first Test at Eden Gardens.
Only 11.5 overs were bowled in Kolkata in just 60 minutes of play overall.
S ur an ga La km al (0-3) bowled an exceptional sixover spell – all maidens – and used the new ball brilliantly during the 43- minute session before bad light forced an early tea. The paceman took all three wickets as India’ s toporder collapsed on a green, moisture- laden pitch after Sri Lanka won the toss.
Ch et esh war Pu jar a (8 not out) and Ajinkya R ahane ( 0 not out) were the unbeaten batsmen at the close of play. The other bowler used, Lahiru Gamage, has figures of 0-16 so far.
However, India’ s batting coach S anjay Bangar played down the dismissals. He said: “It was a difficult pitch to bat on. In these conditions, there is an additional element of patience required. But there were too many interruptions and our batsmen didn’t get one continued passage of play. We cannot find fault with their dismissals on a wicket like this.”
After the early tea was tak- en, India tried to rebuild their innings from 17 for two. But La k malt rapp edViratK oh li ( 0) lbw on the eighth ball after the inter val. Kohli was ruled out despite a DRS review.
Earlier, LokeshRahul (0) was caught behind off the very first ball, becoming the sixth Indian bats man to bed ismissed off the first ball of a test. Shikhar Dhawan ( 8) played on and was bowled off Lakmal in the seventh over.
There was only 17 minutes’ play in the final session. The umpires waited for light to improve, before calling off play more than an hour before the scheduled time.
Play had been reduced to 55 overs after rain prevented play in the morning session. The weather finally relented to allow the toss to take place four hours behind schedule. Another small interruption then reduced it to 52 overs.
“We don’t know what a good first inn in g’ s score on this pitch could be,” said Rumesh Ratnayake, Sri Lanka’s bowling coach.
“For Sri Lanka it could be 200, but for India, it could be 250. It depends on different perspectives.
“On this pitch, you need to bowl a specific line and length and we did that.”