Sri Lankans miss vital practice

Play was abandoned on the opening day of Sri Lanka's three-day tour opener against the Board

President's XI following wet ground conditions and dampness on the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, on Saturday.

The Sri Lankans as well as the Y Venugopal Rao-led Indian outfit appeared a disappointed lot but they could do little as the weather did not oblige.

Sri Lanka captain Marvan Atapattu described the loss of the day's play as unfortunate, and expressed hope that they would get at least two days of match practice.

Umpires Shahvir Tarapore and T K Handu inspected the pitch this morning and again at 12.45 pm, and ruled out play for the day.

Sri Lankan coach Tom Moody, and his President's XI counterpart V B Chandrasekar also had a look at the pitch.

The umpires will again inspect the pitch on Sunday morning.

The Sri Lankans, who lost the recent one-day series to India 1-6, are looking for some useful practice before the first of the three-Test series starts at Chennai on December 2, but the weather is playing truant.

In fact, ever since they arrived in Bangalore on Wednesday night, the tourists have not been able to have net practice on the ground. They were forced to confine themselves to the National Cricket Academy, where they had indoor training sessions.