Bangar concerned by unfamiliar seam movement

Only 15 overs were bowled on day one at the SSC but in that time, India's inexperienced top-order batsmen were exposed to seam movement they were unfamiliar with, the visitors' batting coach Sanjay Bangar said. India lost their first wicket off the second ball of the day, when KL Rahul left a ball that seamed back to shave his off stump. According to Bangar, Rahul, who is playing his fifth Test on an unusually green SSC deck, still needs to tighten his technique against seam.

"Rahul has been playing in the domestic circuit for a while now and in domestic circuit the ball doesn't do much after pitching," he said. "With the Kookaburra ball, it does a lot after pitching. It is something that he is getting used to. We are working on a particular aspect of his batting and I think we will be able to sort it out very quickly."

Opening combinations from both teams have had poor series so far, with no first-wicket partnership having stretched beyond 15 runs. Rahul's dismissal on Friday was the third instance on the trot India lost their first wicket in the first over of the innings. Though unlike for Sri Lanka, India's opening partnerships have changed from match to match, due to injury.

"I would rather see that there are also partnerships happening at the top of the order," Bangar said. "You definitely want your openers to ride over that tough phase of playing that new Kookaburra ball that does much in the first 15 overs. That has been a challenge. Having a different opener in every Test also plays a role. No one is batting there consistently, because of injury. The more innings you get, the better position you are in to judge the ball."

Ajinkya Rahane hit a hundred in the second innings at the P Sara Oval, but has also been out cheaply in two first innings since moving to No. 3. Bangar said Rahane had begun to make the technical adjustments required of a No.3 batsman, despite his single-figure score on Friday.

"Rahane was accustomed to batting at No.4 or No.5 in the Test format, so what happens is that when you generally bat at No.5, the ball is 25 overs old and you can really play on the up. You can play strokes to the ball which are really not under your eyes.

"When you want to play on the up, the length of your stride shortens a bit. What we worked was getting a good stride so he has a stable base and he plays the ball as late as possible and as close to the body as possible. So that was the thing that worked for him and he put in a lot of hard work and it paid off. Today the way he started he was looking really good it's just that he got one ball and that's the way cricket goes."

Each of the last seven Tests in Sri Lanka have yielded results, despite frequent rain interruptions in each series. Seventy-five overs were lost on day one, but Bangar said a result still remained possible, particularly given the nature of the surface. Almost four sessions had been lost to rain in the Galle Test against Pakistan in June, yet that game also provided a result.

"The good thing about this series has been that it has been played on good tracks. There is a lot to offer for the bowlers - spinners, seamers, and the fast bowlers. So it's a sporting wicket, good grass cover on it. I expect the ball will seam around right throughout the game. It's hard underneath.

"It makes for challenging cricket and the advantage of batting first on such wickets is that with a little bit of moisture, the ball makes slight dents on the pitch which could be of some use to us when we bowl on this track."