Sri Lanka run into trouble on India tour

Sri Lanka's batsmen faltered against spin at the start of their Test tour of India, leaving them short of confidence ahead of the first Test starting in Chennai on Friday. The tourists were reduced to 171-9 in reply to the Indian board president's X1 total of 317-4 before the rain-hit practice match was abandoned as a draw here on November 28.

The entire first day's play and a major part of the second had been lost to rain, but Sri Lanka embarrassed themselves in whatever little play was possible. Kumar Sangakkara top-scored for the tourists with 43 as young spinners Amit Mishra and Kulamani Parida shared seven wickets between them. Earlier, the home team took their overnight score of 217-2 to 317-4 declared with Sridharan Sriram making 61 and Venugopal Rao, the captain, scoring 46.

To add to Sri Lanka's woes, Chamara Kapugedara was asked to fly home following pain in his right knee. The team management has asked for a replacement. After the Chennai Test, the second Test will be played in Kanpur from December 10 and the third in New Delhi from December 18. Sri Lanka were thrashed 6-1 by India in the one-day series earlier this month.