'Lucky' Rahul seizes the day for India

COLOMBO: It was a perfect 'welcome' mat for Kumar Sangakkara's farewell at the P Sara Oval - brown in colour without a hint of grass on it, a perfect 'batsman's paradise' if ever there was one. Still, it does require some patience and an element of luck to succeed here, and on Thursday, Lokesh Rahul had that luck. Ajinkya Rahane did not.
Rahul (108; 190b, 13x4, 1x6), after his twin failures in Galle, might not even have been part of the playing XI if Shikhar Dhawan had been fit for this Test.As things stand, for the second Test in a row, Rahul benefitted from an injury to grab a spot in the side.
It might well have been a third failure in a row for the Karnataka opener if Jehan Mubarak had not spilled a simple chest-high offering in Dushmantha Chameera's first over when the batsman was on 11.
The track had a bit of spice in it for the first hour but skipper Virat Kohli still decided to go ahead and make first use of it. Opener Murali Vijay, returning from a hamstring injury, departed plumb leg-before in the first over. Rahane, though, drew the short straw on the day as he was pushed up to the No. 3 spot to cushion the struggling Rohit Sharma.
The swap did not work as Rahane poked at a wide delivery off Dhammika Prasad to leave India struggling at 12 for 2 in the fifth over. The hosts were all over India in the first hour but Rahul's reprieve turned the tide. In the same over, the youngster delightfully ondrove Chameera in a sign of things to come.
Kohli (78; 107b, 8x4, 1x6), who had four centuries in his four Tests as skipper before this match, looked in sublime touch in the middle and was prepared to counter fire with fire. His positivity rubbed off on young Rahul as the duo navigated the rest of the session with ease, putting on 85 runs in the next 21 overs. Both the Sri Lankan spinners looked pretty pedestrian on the first-day pitch. Rahul and Kohli managed to use their feet well to nullify whatever little spin there was in the track.
The Indian skipper had the bowling on its knees and a fifth ton as captain was up for grabs, but Rangana Herath lulled him into a drive and the edge was smartly grabbed by Angelo Mathews to bring the 164-run stand for the third wicket to an end.
Rohit Sharma (79; 132b, 5x4, 3x5) found the comforts of the No. 5 position to his liking. The pitch had eased out after noon and the bowling was also losing its sting, thanks to Rahul and Kohli's efforts. The Mumbai batsman was easily able to flex his muscles against the wayward Tharindu Kaushal and Herath. Rahul, at the other end, merrily cruised towards his second Test century, both coming after failures in the previous Test. India needed the settled batsmen to carry on to a bigger total but Rahul's penchant for the hook shot proved to be his undoing again. If it was Mitchell Johnson in Australia, it was Chameera here as Rahul failed to keep a head-high bouncer down.
Stuart Binny, drafted into the side in place of Harbhajan, looked completely out of sorts. Out of the 40 balls he faced, Binny failed to time a single shot and struggled to read the spinners. Kaushal put him out of his misery when Binny skied one to mid-off.
Rohit had a chance to cement his place for the next few games but Mathews trapped him leg-before in almost identical manner to his dismissal in Galle. India ended the day on 319/6. The home side will not be too unhappy with the opening day as India's lower order has been known to be susceptible.
Three Indian batsmen got their eye in but failed to go on. If the visitors fail to put on a huge first-innings score on this track, they'll only have themselves to blame all over again.