Ajantha Mendis, the debutant, will partner Muttiah Muralitharan.
Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat against India
Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and chose to bat on an SSC pitch that looked dry despite the consistent rain over the last 12 days. Overnight rain, followed by a steady drizzle, made sure there was no play for two sessions and the captains finally came out for toss at 3pm. The only session therefore had to be extended, with 42 overs expected to be bowled.
Both teams made changes from their previous Tests, with Ajantha Mendis, the spinner, expectedly making his debut.
Gautam Gambhir, who has gradually become one of the most reliable openers in ODI cricket, made his comeback in Tests, a proper one unlike the last time he played a Test, against Pakistan in Bangalore last year, dropped after making 5 and 3 in the final match of the series. Also making comebacks for India were Zaheer Khan - from an injury-enforced break, Harbhajan Singh - from a slap-enforced break from ODIs, and Dinesh Karthik - from a Mahendra Singh Dhoni-enforced break.
Sri Lanka continued to show faith in their young opening pair of Michael Vandort and Malinda Warnapura. But the most exciting prospect in their side was Muttiah Muralitharan's spin partner, the finger-flicking Mendis. With all due credit to Chaminda Vaas' persistence and guile, this was perhaps the first time since Murali got into his own that some other bowler was talked of more than him, leading up to a Test.
India last went to Sri Lanka for what was to be a tri-series also featuring South Africa. South Africa had pulled out after a bomb blast in Colombo, but the monsoon didn't let India and Sri Lanka get on with a bilateral series either. That was in the month of August, and even the current series, bar one Test, will be played in the same rainy month.
Teams
Sri Lanka: 1 Michael Vandort, 2 Malinda Warnapura, 3 Kumar Sangakkara, 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Thilan Samaraweera, 6 Tillakaratne Dilshan, 7 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Nuwan Kulasekera, 10 Muttiah Muralitharan, 11 Ajantha Mendis
India: 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 VVS Laxman, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Zaheer Khan, 11 Ishant Sharma
Posts
