India vs Lanka 3rd Test Day 1: India 50-2 in rain-hit day

India lost two quick wickets to reach 50-2 before rain washed out the rest of the opening day of the third and final test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground on Friday.

Only 15 overs of play were possible in the entire day as the umpires made multiple inspections to check for a restart but called stumps about an hour after the official tea break.

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews was rewarded by his fast bowlers with the wickets of opener Lokesh Rahul (two) and in-form batsman Ajinkya Rahane (eight) after he opted to bowl on a pitch sporting a covering of grass.

India captain Virat Kohli (14) survived some nervy moments to stay unbeaten with Cheteshwar Pujara (19) when heavy rain forced the players off the ground for an early lunch break.

Rahul was clean bowled by Dhammika Prasad with the second delivery of the day with the batsman inexplicably shouldering arms to a ball that nipped back from outside the off stump.

Rahane, who scored a century in India's second test victory last week, batted confidently before he missed a straight delivery from Nuwan Pradeep to be given out leg before wicket.

India were 14-2 at that stage and looked set for more trouble but debutant wicketkeeper Kusal Perera spilled an edge from Kohli with the batsman on eight.

Kohli was once again lucky when he edged Prasad but the ball fell short of the first slip.

Play has been suspended because of rain with India 50-2 after 15 overs.

Pradeep strikes in the fourth over trapping Rahane leg before. Ind 14-2, 3.4 overs.

Ajinkya Rahane lbw b Pradeep 8 (13b 2x4 0x6)

Rahane hits the first boundary of the match straight driving Prasad in the third over. Ind 8-1.

Horror start for India as Rahul is out in the second ball of the match squaring shoulders to Prasad who nips one back in. Ind 2-1, 0.2 overs.

Lokesh Rahul b Prasad 2 (2b 0x4 0x6) 

Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews won the toss and opted to bowl in the third and final Test against India at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground on Friday.

With the pitch sporting a covering of grass, Mathews said it was an easy decision for him.

"There's a lot of grass on it and will obviously do a lot for the seamers," Mathews said at the toss. "We will look to get that early advantage."

The hosts made three changes to the side that lost the second test last week with lower order batsman Jehan Mubarak and paceman Dushmantha Chameera being dropped while Kumar Sangakkara retired from international cricket.

Hard-hitting batsman Kusal Perera will be making his test debut while left-handed batsman Upul Tharanga and paceman Nuwan Pradeep were also drafted in for the deciding Test of the series tied at 1-1.

India also handed a test debut to a wicketkeeper-batsman with Naman Ojha replacing Wriddhiman Saha, who was been ruled out with a hamstring injury suffered in the second match.

Cheteshwar Pujara replaced injured opener Murali Vijay in the only other change in the visiting team.

India captain Virat Kohli said he also wanted to give his bowlers an early use of the pitch.

"Probably would have bowled first as well," Kohli said. "First session is going to be the best to bowl.

"But the surface looks pretty nice and hard. (In) the last game as well when we batted first, there was something in the wicket for an hour and a half. But we countered it pretty well.

"So pretty confident with the way we are batting right now to counter that first session and get things going for us."

Sri Lanka: Kaushal Silva, Dimuth Karunaratne, Upul Tharanga, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews (captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Perera, Rangana Herath, Dhammika Prasad, Nuwan Pradeep, Tharindu Kaushal

India: Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Naman Ojha, Stuart Binny, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav

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