KOLKATA: Persistent rain is threatening to hold up the first Test on Thursday when India begin their three-match home series against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens.

The sides met only recently, when India toured Sri Lanka in July and August and emphatically won 3-0.

Sri Lanka recovered from that poor showing to beat Pakistan 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates but India will once again look to stamp their authority on this contest as the world’s top-ranked Test side.

Neither side could practice properly on Wednesday because of incessant showers. The forecast is not good for Thursday and Friday and the weather is only expected to clear up from Saturday onwards.

It has affected ground staff, too.

The pitch at the Eden Gardens was lush green on Monday, and staff working there only managed to shave off a little.

Given this, India captain Virat Kohli expects a green pitch for the first Test.

“It looks like a sporting wicket,” he said. “We want to play in different conditions and perform well.”

Kohli’s side also has one eye on the tour of South Africa, starting in January, and the players will use this series to step up preparations for an enthralling away clash with the world’s second-ranked side.

“We want to play every match with the same intensity,” Kohli said. “If we had played all our recent games in overseas conditions, we would have played with the same attitude.”

Emerging all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who impressed during the tour of Sri Lanka, has been rested. In his absence, Rohit Sharma could get a chance if India opt for an additional batsman.

Keeping the conditions in mind, however, the hosts could look to field a five-pronged attack including three pacers and two spinners.

Sri Lanka have a hard task ahead but remains cautiously optimistic.

“India played some good cricket in the past two years. They have worked hard in different areas and their number one rank is justified,” Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal said on Wednesday. “It will be an uphill task for us. But we have our plans in place and could surprise them.”

Sri Lanka, in fact, lost all nine matches, including five One-day internationals and a Twenty20 International, as they were humiliated at home by Kohli’s tourists from late July to September.

The island nation have still never won a Test on Indian soil but they head to Eden Gardens with renewed hopes after winning the Pakistan series and Chandimal believes dreams can come true.

“We did really well against Pakistan and the boys are in a good shape,” Chandimal said. “We know India are the number one team at the moment and have seen them play some really good cricket in the last two years. This will be a challenging series for us.

“We have never won a Test in India. So it’s a dream for us to win one this time. We need to start well in this series.”

But the one batsman who impressed during the 3-0 home loss to India Kusal Mendis has been dropped after scoring only 48 runs in two Tests against Pakistan.

Teams (from):

INDIA: Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma.

SRI LANKA: Dinesh Chandimal (captain), Dimuth Karunaratne, Dananjaya de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Dilruwan Perera, Lahiru Gamage, Lakshan Sandakan, Vishwa Fernando, Dasun Shanaka, Niroshan Dickwella, Roshen Silva.

Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (England) and Nigel Llong (England).

TV umpire: Joel Wilson (West Indies).

Match referee: David Boon (Australia).

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2017