India vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test: Sunil Gavaskar welcomes KL Rahul to 'the club' after getting golden duck at Eden Gardens

New Delhi: India got off to the worst possible start in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Thursday. After hours of rain delay, the visitors won the toss and put India into bat on a dangerous top. (LIVE BLOG || LIVE SCORECARD)

Then, India lost opener Lokesh Rahul off the first ball of the match, caught behind after the ball taking the faintest of nicks. Suranga Lakmal was at his best there, pitching the ball at just the right place then moving the ball away with a vicious swing.

Gavaskar, who was doing the commentary honours, welcomed Rahul into 'the club' and relived his own dismissal way back in 1983. The batting great said, "1983, caught by [Jeff] Dujon, bowled by [Malcolm] Marshall, caught down the leg side for a golden duck."

Yes, it's indeed one club for Indian batsmen.

Rahul thus became the sixth Indian batsman to get out first ball of a Test match. Interestingly, Gavaskar's name is there three times in the list.

Here is the list:

Gavaskar in 1974, 1983 and 1986
Sudhir Naik in 1974
WV Raman in 1989
SS Das in 2001
Wasim Jaffer in 2007
KL Rahul in 2017

The opening day's proceedings were reduced to 55 overs from the regulation 90 and the match began at 1:30 pm IST.

The Eden Gardens ground remained under thick white tarpaulin cover this morning as it had been raining since yesterday. There is a forecast of more rain in the next 24 hours.

The build-up to the India-Australia ODI at the Eden on September 21 had also witnessed rain, but it did not affect the match.

An India-South Africa T20I match in 2015 was abandoned as it rained for 30 minutes before the game was to start.

Sri Lanka are playing their maiden Test at the Eden Gardens.

An India-South Africa T20I match in 2015 was abandoned as it rained for 30 minutes before the game was to start.

Sri Lanka are playing their maiden Test at the Eden Gardens.