Akshar Patel struck with the first ball of his second over to get rid of Prasanna. The massive scoreboard pressure was accounting for Sri Lankan batsmen on a docile pitch as the last recognized batting pair of Jayawardene and Angelo Matthews joined forces. That however didn't last long. With the run rate hovering above nine, Patel induced a false shot to put out Jayawardene's promising innings as Kohli snaffled a soft chance at short cover.
From a hastily arranged stopgap to fill in the losses from West Indies' pullout - to resuming the once-cliche'd INDvSL hashtags, this was a series of oddities. That Sri Lanka were undercooked, was no secret. With a relatively inexperienced side, who were in the middle of a rigorous fitness training, switching on the cricket instincts was never going to be easy. More so, against an Indian side which were switched on with series wins against England and West Indies.
With the curator promising runs, Sri Lanka elected to bowl first - swayed by the predictions of dew under the floodlights. While Angelo Mathews promised to experiment with young guys, Kohli wasn't shy of a few in absence of Dhoni either - dropping Ravindra Jadeja. Dhammika Prasad mixed sharp speeds with swing to begin well, as he beat the outside edge of Indian batsmen regularly.