India were 50 for two when play was called off on the first day of the third Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground in Colombo due to rain. After being left on 14 for two, Cheteshwar Pujara and (19*) and Virat Kohli (14*) strove to rebuild and carry the innings forward to an early lunch. However, with rain refusing to relent play was called off later in the day without any further action.
Put in to bat, India struggled as the SL pacers utilised the conditions to make early inroads into the opposition line-up and pegging India back early in the innings as expected by their captain. As he has done more often than not through the series, Dhammika Prasad claimed a wicket in the first over of the match. The pacer knocked off KL Rahul’s bails while Nuwan Pradeep had Ajinkya Rahane trapped leg-before. Coming to the crease in the first over, Rahane got off the mark by sending Prasad to the long-off boundary but was back in the pavilion a boundary later.
With India on the backfoot, Kohli joined Pujara who had come out to open after replacing the injured Murali Vijay in the team. Tested by movement and bounce, the batsmen toiled to negotiate the SL attack.
An over later, Pujara survived as he pushed at a Pradeep delivery which fell just short of the third slip. Couple of overs later, Kohli was dropped by debutant wicketkeeper Kusal Perera. While the captain got a life, five runs were added to the total with the ball hitting the ‘keeper’s helmet. Dropped on eight, he plodded on and while looking to carry the innings forward survived again after adding a run to his total, after Prasad forced an edge through to the slips and the ball dropped just short of the first slip.
With Pujara and Kohli soldiering on India were precariously poised when heavy showers stopped play. However, with rain continuing to play hide and seek and the out-field being soggy, play could not be resumed after being stopped earlier in the day.
End of Day 1: India 1st inn 50/2 in 15 overs (C Pujara 19*, V Kohli 14*, D Prasad 1/16, N Pradeep 1/16)
