India vs Sri Lanka 2017: 1st Test, day 1 - 5 things we learnt from the day

The Sri Lankan lions roared on a rain-marred, 71 ball day as Suranga Lakmal delivered 36 dot balls, picked three wickets and oversaw a dramatic collapse at the top of India's batting line-up on day 1 of the first Test at Kolkata. After torrential rain delayed the toss and play till after lunch, Sri Lanka opted to bowl first, relieved to put in India in such conditions.

India, without Murali Vijay, looked vulnerable to say the least, and Lakmal exposed it to no end. His six overs included six maidens and KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli were back in the hut, with the Indian total at just 17.

Bad light stopped play and further rain prevented any play, and Sri Lanka would go back happy after a sensational day's play.

#5 Eden Gardens gets a facelift

The Eden ground covered a day before the Test owing to torrential rain

With the South African tour in mind, India needed some pre-tour practice and turned over the Eden wicket at Kolkata into a green mamba. Already a quicker surface by Indian standards, the Eden underwent a massive change when the rains relented and the covers came off.

Much to the surprise of many, a lush green cover of grass unravelled when the support staff too off the covers. India are known to present dry, dusty tracks in the home Tests, an advantage that they exploited endlessly in the recent home season but this was an anti-Indian wicket. Everything about it screamed Johannesburg, and the rain and movement on offer compounded the joy for the bowlers.

#4 Murali Vijay left out of playing XI

Despite his cracking hundred for Tamil Nadu in the last Ranji game he played, Vijay was left out

India sprung a surprise when it left out Murali Vijay from the starting XI and opted to go with incumbents Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul.

Vijay had, over the years, established himself at the top of India's Test batting line-up with some outstanding performances. But injury struck at the wrong time and Dhawan capitalised on that in Sri Lanka with some resounding knocks.

That said, there should really be little question as to who should open for India in South Africa later this season.

Dhawan averages 27.83, 20.33 and 19.00 in Australia, England and South Africa respectively, while Vijay performed admirably well in South Africa the last time India toured the country.

Besides, Vijay's temperament and technique suits the longer formats of the game, and he was indeed India's first choice opener till a few months ago.

#3 Dhawan's outrageous stroke justifies hullabaloo regarding Vijay drop

Dhawan looked to be in a hurry right from the word go

There is a reason Test cricket is played over five days. It tests the mental and cricketing skills of batsmen. It tests how good they are at restraining their natural instincts and playing to the situation. It tries to force batsmen to mix their batting skills along with their patience, composure and temperament.

When Dhawan was picked over Vijay, Twitter went gaga over the Vijay-drop. After all the Tamil Nadu opener had been a terrific opener for India in Tests.

The reason to select Shikhar Dhawan over Murali Vijay are the same as they were for selecting Rohit Sharma over Pujara. We all know how that ended. #IndvSL

— cricBC (@cricBC) November 16, 2017

Dhawan justified all the noise when he looked to play an expansive drive off Suranga Lakmal, who was in the middle of a dream spell, early in the innings. Sure enough, the inside edge was found and the stumps were in tatters.

#2 Suranga Lakmal's outstanding spell

Lakmal was all over India before bad light stopped play

6-6-0-3, read Suranga Lakmal's opening burst on a green Eden wicket after Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bowl in the first Test. The visitors had vengeance in plentiful having succumbed to an embarrassing loss in the home series less than three months ago. But very few expected them to fight back so early in the game with such venom.

The first ball of the match was a ripper that Lokesh Rahul could just fiddle at with a hanging bat.

The outside edge was found and India were 0/1 after 0.1 overs. In walked Cheteshwar Pujara who was greeted by two rip-roaring deliveries by the Lankan seamer.

Pujara survived doggedly, but Dhawan chose to go extravagant, only to be bowled off an inside edge. The skipper was next, missing a delivery that seamed in, to be struck in front for nought, his fifth zilch in the year.

#1 A short teaser to South Africa?

Lakmal's spell exposed several flaws in India's top order

Suranga Lakmal's outrageous opening spell on a pitch eerily reminiscent of the Bull Ring in South Africa brought back the ever familiar question: are India equipped enough to handle seam on seaming tracks?

They countered the likes of James Anderson, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Trent Boult during the extended home season, but how good are they if the pitch aids these pacers?

If Lakmal, with a wayward Lahiru Gamage at the other end, could test the Indian batsmen every single ball, how well would this batting line-up, despite all their humungous achievements in recent times, fare against Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and possibly even Dale Steyn? Several question marks hang over India after day 1 at Kolkata provided a teaser of India's January 2018 in the Rainbow Nation.