Due to heavy rain last night and some continuous rain early in the morning and in the end bad light spoil the play of Day1 of first test match between India and Sri Lanka at SSC.
Both teams spent almost whole day in their dressing room before match finally began at 03:30 PM local time. Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardne won the toss and decided to bat first. His decision was against the history of cricket played at SSC ground since the team batting first has won only on five occasions in the last 20 test matches played at SSC ground.
Since the condition was overcast and cloudy M.Jayawardne took bold decision of batting first. Indian new ball bowler Ishant Sharma draw first blood when he got rid of M.Vandort when Sri Lanka has posted only seven runs on the board. However K.Sangkara (12 runs) and M.Warnapura (50 not out) put on 50 run partnership for the 2nd wicket before Z.Khan bowled a beauty of delivery to caught K.Sangkara in the first slip by Rahul Dravid.
When play began umpires decided 42 overs will be bowled on 1st day but due to bad light match was stopped. At the end of day 1 Sri Lanka were 85/2 in 22 overs with M.Jayawardne batting on 16 and M.Warnapura batting on 50 runs.
Team News
Sri Lanka is playing with five regular bowlers. Three fats bowlers (C.Vaas, N.Kulasekara and T.Thusara) and two spinners (M.Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis). A.Mendis is making his test debut.
Indians is playing with same side that was played against Sri Lanka Board XI in their tour game.
The pitch at SSC ground looks good to bat with some help for the spinners as the game progresses. However in the next four days of test match heavy thundershowers forecast is expected due to this the seam and swing bowler will also play crucial role in this test match.
Stats and Trivia
The master batsman Sachin Tendulkar needs another 172 runs to surpass Brian Lara and become Test Cricket’s highest run getter. So far he has played eight innings in Sri Lanka and has averages 111.67 with four 100’s and two 50’s.
In the last 20 test matches played at SSC, teams batting first manage to win only on five occasions.
In the last 13 test matches played at SSC, Sri Lanka manages to win 10 times and just one lost to their account and that was to against the might Australians in 2004.
