India’s first Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle starting Saturday can face a major challenge as rain looms large over the encounter. The match will be extra special for India as it will be their 600th Test clash. Rain already impacted India’s preparations ahead of the game as the Shubman Gill-led side was forced to cut short their practice session on Friday. Things are expected to remain the same as weather forecasts predicted rain for the next few days. The forecast claimed that it will be cloudy and breezy with high chances of rain on Saturday. Temperatures were predicted to remain between 30-31 degree Celsius with Accuweather forecast predicting 90 per cent chance of precipitation and 92 per cent cloud cover.
Rain is also expected to remain a possibility on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. As a result, the first Test match between India and Sri Lanka can face multiple interruptions.
Meanwhile, India captain Shubman Gill indicated that Prasidh Krishna will share the new ball with the seasoned Mohammed Siraj even though rookie Gurnoor Brar has also made a strong case with his ability to strike with the old ball.
While India will be going with three left-arm slow bowlers — two orthodox in Ravindra Jadeja and Manav Suthar and a wrist spinner in Kuldeep Yadav, Siraj is the only certainty among the four Indian pacers on this tour.
While Auqib Nabi is not even in contention, the choice is between the 6-foot-5-inch tall Brar and an inch shorter Prasidh, who has already played seven Tests and taken 25 wickets.
“They both are very skilled bowlers and they bowled really well in the practice match. We have seen how good Gurnoor is with the old ball when nothing is happening,” Gill said on the eve of the opening Test.
“He is excellent with the old ball. You need that extra pace, extra bounce. He’s obviously very tall as well. But I think Prasidh recently has been bowling the best that I have ever seen him bowl. In the red ball and also in white ball. So it would be a very tough decision for us to be able to just pick one,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)