Rain delays toss of series opener at Kolkata

Kolkata: Overnight rains have forced the toss of the series opener of India-Sri Lanka Tests to be delayed here at Eden Gardens. Dark cloud cover and an alert from the local met department prompted the ground staff to keep the covers on despite there being no rain on Thursday morning. The on-time start was doubtful anyway with the met department predicting rains till Friday thanks to a deep depression currently positioned at west-central Bay of Bengal. The depression over westcentral Bay of Bengal off Andhra Pradesh coast moved north-northeastwards and lay centred about 80 km east-southeast of Visakhapatnam and 210 km south- southwest of Gopalpur at 0530 hours IST today. The system is very likely to move further north-northeastwards off north Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coasts during next 24 hours maintaining its intensity," an IMD bulletin said. With the improved drainage system of the reformed Eden Gardens, the possibility of toss taking place around lunchtime cannot be ruled out if there is no further rain to disrupt the proceedings.

The super sopper and ground staff hard at work at the Eden Gardens #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/H050l54s4w

— BCCI (@BCCI) November 16, 2017

Overcast conditions and thick covering of grass will pose an interesting question in front of the captains. The pitch is sure to assist seamers. If moisture sets in through the covers, which is possible in all likelihood then a dubious bounce may spell further trouble for batters. India had shown their cards on the eve of the Test match by declaring a three-seamer strategy. With no Hardik Pandya in the squad, Rohit Sharma might just make it to the playing XI as the NO. 6 batsman just to provide strength to the lower middle order. He had played  a crucial role the last time India played a Test match at this venue against New Zealand. For Sri Lanka, it will be all about holding their own trying to set their horrific track record against right. For the record, Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test in India.