IND vs SL: 1st Test, Day 1: LIVE

Muttiah Muralitharan is in business. He struck just in time to remove Yuvraj Singh, who was beginning to look rather dangerous.
LUNCH, India are 105 for four

Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh stitched up a solid partnership to consolidate the Indian innings after the hosts lost four crucial wickets early in the first session.

Chanaka Welegedara wrecked the Indian batting order before Dhamika Prasad packed off VVS Laxman to leave the hosts in a hole

However, Dravid and Yuvraj dropped anchor to take India out of choppy waters with a 73 run partnership. The left-handed Yuvraj continued to impress with an improved technique against spinners and in the company of 'The Wall' kept Sri Lanka's bowlers at bay till lunch.

The Indian scorecard looked a lot better as the players headed back after an intense first two hours of the opening Test.

Welegedara was on fire with the new ball in Motera. Having snapped up Gautam Gambhir, the left arm seamer saw off Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar in quick time

The Toss

India have won the toss and decided to bat first against Sri Lanka in the first Test of the three match series.

However, Sri Lanka have opted to go in without mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and Thilan Thusara and Nuwan Kulasekara.

India will try to bounce back to winning ways when they take on SL in the first match of a three-Test series starting on Monday.

For this to happen, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men would have to switch into the Test mode from the more frenetic one-day frame of mind when they go into the first Test at the Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium in Motera.

The Indian team has had a non-stop dish of limited-over cricket, 50-over and Twenty20, over the last six months and played their last Test series against New Zealand in March-April early this year.

The Indian middle order has been bolstered by the return of Test specialists Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, who were not part of the squad that lost to Australia after squandering a 2-1 lead by losing the next three matches in-a-row.

Both Dravid and Laxman, especially the former, are coming into the match on the back of some good displays in the Ranji Trophy and would be eager to hit the straps.

India: V Sehwag, G Gambhir, R Dravid, SR Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni (Captain & WK), Harbhajan Singh, Z Khan, I Sharma, A Mishra

Sri Lanka: TM Dilshan, NT Paranavitana, KC Sangakkara (Captain), DPMD Jayawardene, TT Samaraweera, AD Mathews, HAPW (WK) Jayawardene, KTGD Prasad, HMRKB Herath, M Muralitharan, UWMBCA Welegedara