GALLE (Sri Lanka), July 18 (IANS) - Sri Lanka started on a confident note as they made 91 for one in their first innings at lunch against India on the first day of the first cricket Test at the Galle International Stadium here Sunday.
Opener Tharanga Pranavitana was batting on 35 and captain Kumar Sangakkara on 25 at the lunch break after Sri Lanka opted to bat. The start of the match was delayed by 30 minutes due to a wet outfield.
Tillekaratne Dilshan's (25) was the only wicket that fell in the first session and it went to debutant pacer Abhimanyu Mithun.
With one of the weakest bowling attack, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni had a forgetful first session as his strike bowler Ishant Sharma was spanked to all parts of the ground.
In the absence of injured Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth, Ishant and Mithun started with the new ball. But Sri Lankan openers Paranavitana and Dilshan stamped their authority by reaching 50 in the ninth over.
Ishant gave away 41 runs in his five overs in the morning as Paranavitana struck him for a four in the first ball of the innings and then repeated it with another boundary in the opening over. Dilshan also smashed five fours off Ishant in two overs before Dhoni finally took him off.
Mithun made an impressive debut as he removed the dangerous looking Dilshan, who tried to play a hook shot off a short-pitched delivery which only found his gloves and Dhoni took an easy catch behind the stumps.
Dhoni replaced Ishant with off-spinner Harbhajan Singh in the 10th over. Harbhajan bowled a tight line and length to slow down the proceedings.
Sangakkara ensured that Sri Lanka did not lose any more wicket before the lunch break.
