Ind v SL 1st Test: Watch - Suranga Lakmal Sends Backs KL Rahul with a Snorter of a Delivery

After suffering whitewash across formats at the hands of India during their tour of Sri Lanka in July-September, the Lankans have got another opportunity to prove themselves against the same opponents in a series comprising of 3 Tests and as many ODI’s and T20I’s. Many pundits have already predicted a strong Indian performance and have said that how is it even feasible that a team who got whitewashed in their den have any chances of winning overseas against the same team.

The Test series, in particular, was touted as a preparatory camp for the much sterner South Africa tour starting from January. Ahead of the series, the home team spent a considerable amount of time in the nets focussing on the areas they need to improve on. Meanwhile, ahead of the first Test at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the weather reports suggested that there were chances of rain all through the match and in only the opening day the rain gods didn’t allow the match to start on time.

It wasn’t heavy showers under any stress of imagination but was enough to prevent the play from starting for more than 3 hours. When the toss eventually happened, Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and put the hosts into bat. The Eden Gardens surface looked a bowler-friendly wicket, and the bowlers were itching to go out there and perform.

Just as the players gathered in the team for the first ball, the rain gods opened up yet again, and the match was halted for another 15 minutes. Murali Vijay was left out of the Playing XI in favor of KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan. Meanwhile, Chandimal handed over the ball to Suranga Lakmal to deliver the first over.

The fast bowler responded terrifically by removing KL Rahul in the first delivery of the innings with a scorching delivery. The ball pitched at middle stump and moved away like a fast leg-break to take the faint edge of Rahul’s bat. He had no clue and ended up giving a fairly simple catch to Niroshan Dickwella behind the stumps.

With the sort of pitch on offer, batting has looked immensely difficult in the three overs played so far and it shouldn’t be a high scoring game.

Watch the video of KL Rahul here.

Check out “Golden Duck! Rahul Walks Back” on Hotstar!https://t.co/q7hYAaoxkB

— Nishith (@Nicks103) November 16, 2017