India vs Sri Lanka 2017, 1st Test, Day 2: 5 things we learnt from the day

Rain once again played spoilsport as the first Test between India and Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens saw just 21 overs bowled in the whole of day two. It was, however, sufficient for Lanka to further dent India's batting order by taking two more middle-order wickets, both falling to the medium pace of Dasun Shanaka.

Shanaka teased in and around the fourth stump line and picked up the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin. Pujara, bringing his recent county experience into play, looked a dogged figure as he slowly yet steadily held together India's broken innings. He remained unbeaten on 47 at stumps on day 2 with Wriddhiman Saha offering decent support for 22 balls.

#5 Dasun Shanaka opens up the middle-order

Shanaka proved to be a handful for the Indian middle-order

A year and a half ago, on his Test debut in England, Dasun Shanaka hogged headlines by nipping out three wickets in the space of eight deliveries, conceding just one run. The wickets included those of Alastair Cook and Joe Root. Today, after a long hiatus from the Test side, something which only the Lankan selectors would be able to explain, Shanaka returned on another seaming wicket and did his part to perfection.

He had Ajinkya Rahane driving with his fullish length and away swing and eked out an outside edge to send the sturdy Mumbai batsman on his way. Ravichandran Ashwin followed soon after, outside edging his medium pace to gully to leave India at 50/5. Shanaka's unassuming 70mph balls, accurate line and length and self-belief makes him precisely the kind of guy Lanka need now.

#4 Rahane's wretched home form continues

Rahane hasn't had the best of times at home

While most of India's batsmen have enjoyed the extended home season, scoring runs at will and helping themselves to a fabulous batting average, one man, a prominent name in the Indian Test batting line-up, Ajinkya Rahane, is having a torrid time.

Since the start of the year, Rahane has made just 312 runs in 10 innings at an average of 34.66 with two half-centuries. If he thought the Sri Lankan series would present an opportunity to set the record straight, he was wrong. Shanaka forced an outside edge with him on 4 and the Mumbaikar had to take the long walk back.

#3 Is Ashwin at 6 the way to go in preparation for South Africa?

Ashwin looks a competent batsman but at six is he good enough?

India in the Kohli reign so far has opted to play five bowlers more often than not. While it allows the skipper to exhibit better control in rotating his bowlers, it shortens the batting line-up considerably but in India, they have gotten away with playing Ashwin at 6 and Saha at 7. But with overseas tours coming up, it does not seem a sound strategy.

In testing, seaming conditions like at the Eden, an additional batsman might be the way to go and this theory gained further backing when Ashwin played out 27 dot balls, put away a full toss for four, and was dismissed, edging Shanaka to gully with 4 off 29 balls.

#2 Lanka baffles with bizarre tactic

Karunaratne has been pretty good with the bat but giving him the ball is surely a tad too much

If Dimuth Karunaratne was given the new ball during the warm-up game against the Board President XI, it was because Sri Lanka thought his dibbly-dobbly seamers would come handy if the wickets seamed a bit. With the Eden offering a pretty responsive track, Sri Lanka decided to gamble.

They had India on the mat at 55/5 when Dinesh Chandimal pulled out his wild card and gave Karunaratne the ball. The first ball was a short, nothing delivery that Pujara put away for a boundary. He continued to land it short under overcast skies and Pujara collected two more boundaries in his two overs which went for 17. The visitors should really have stuck to their three seamers in these conditions.

#1 The Pujara way of batting

Pujara's county stint must have come handy while batting on a green-tinged Eden

Cheteshwar Pujara walked into bat with India 0/1 after 0.1 overs in the Test. Lakmal was steaming in and beat his bat with extra bounce and seam movement first ball. He was cut in half by another inswinger next ball and nearly chopped one onto his stumps the same over. But importantly, he survived the blistering spell that accounted for three of India's top four.

He was a picture of concentration and serenity as he went about playing the ball on merit, batting in a bubble and restraining his tendency to go after the odd wide ball. When Karunaratne did present an opportunity with shorter balls, the Saurashtrian was quick to latch onto it and collected three boundaries. He remains unbeaten on 47 in 102 balls and holds the key to India getting a decent total.