Rain rain, go away

On the positive side, at least we got 22 overs of action on the opening day of the series, as opposed to the 11 balls that comprised the abandoned tri-series featuring India and South Africa two years ago. India will be pleased with the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara, while Sri Lanka will take encouragement from the batting of Malinda Warnapura, who followed up a century in Guyana last March with a tidy half-century on this most placid of pitches.

There were a couple of streaky strokes behind the wicket but for the most part, Warnapura exhibited the good opener's greatest quality - the ability to put away the bad ball. There were a couple of lovely drives down the ground, and his partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, who averages nearly 80 at this venue, will be crucial as Sri Lanka look to pile up a big total.

His uncle, Bandula, led Sri Lanka in their inaugural Test and played the last of his four Tests against India in 1982 before participation in the ill-advised and ill-fated rebel tour of South Africa brought his career to an end at the age of 29.

For India, there wasn't much to complain about once they lost the toss. Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan didn't do much wrong and got a wicket apiece, but there was nothing in the pitch to get excited about. The surface at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground once had enough life in it to prompt teams to field seam-oriented attacks, but these days, it's as lifeless as most Asian pitches. More's the pity.

The scheduling of this series at a time when the monsoon is active in this part of the world will attract quite a bit of attention, but Sri Lanka Cricket can't be blamed for choosing the only window when India would be prepared to tour. Once India's home season starts in September, they certainly wouldn't be prepared to cross the Palk Straits, especially in these times when home series are the big money-spinners.

If the rain stays away over the coming days, we could still get an interesting game. There are enough cracks on the surface to keep the spinners interested, and uneven bounce could well make someone like Ishant a real handful later on. For that to happen though, the rain clouds need to go away, and come again another day.