04:35 pm: With a heavy heart at having so little of cricket today (did we think we’d say that at the start of the day today?), it’s a wrap of day one action from Eden Gardens. Join us tomorrow. Until then, good evening.

04:17 pm, STUMPS: And that’s that. What a shame that we had only 11.5 overs of action today. That was one heck of a test for India under conditions that was anything but Indian. One would say South African almost. Lakmal was absolutely incredible, bowling six maidens out of his six overs and taking all three Indian wickets.

04:12 pm: We would like to tell you to hang around to see if the play resumes on what has been compelling Test cricket so far, but we’d be lying to be honest. It’s past 4pm and it’s very unlikely that the light will improve...

03:45 pm: We have had very little play on day one but goodness gracious, has the action been exciting! Perhaps more so than the entire tour of Sri Lanka from a couple of months back.

BAD LIGHT AGAIN: After perhaps the best ball that Gamage has bowled all day, the players walk off for bad light. Gamage fires it full after spraying short and wide through the spell, and it misses the off-stump off Pujara by inches! Perhaps, an inch. No exaggeration. Pujara and Rahane happily take the umpire’s decision to walk back.

How. Close. Is. That!

VIRAT KOHLI GONE FOR A DUCK: Lakmal is on fire at the Eden Gardens. It’s full, pitching in line with the stumps, moving back and hits Kohli on the front pad below the knee roll. Looks plumb, given out but Kohli reviews. DRS doesn’t save the Indian captain.

India tottering at 17/3 and Lakmal has figures of 6-6-0-3!

03:20 pm: Action resumes at Eden Gardens. Four slips and two gullies for Virat Kohli. Quite the sight.

02:25 pm: And the players walk off the pitch again. First bad light stopped play, with the umpires finding that the artificial light is too less for play to continue. And just as they walk off, it starts to rain again and the covers are back on.

That kind of a day.

Second wicket gone: Oh, dear Shikhar Dhawan! On a pitch where the ball is moving around so much, Dhawan goes for an expansive cover drive and Lakmal’s length is just perfect, landing and moving back in to the left hander, clipping his inside edge and clattering his stumps. That was not good cricket by Dhawan. Kohli, then walks out and gets a peach of a first delivery first up. An away swinger just goes past his outside edge.

After 5 overs, India 8/1: A bit quiet after that brilliant first over from Lakmal. Gamage from the other end is struggling for his line and length. Too short and too wide. Pujara will leave them all day if he has do. Lakmal’s second over is a bit on the short side too. Gamage, meanwhile, doesn’t test Dhawan, either straying on pads or offering width – Dhawan cuts for the first boundary. Lakmal follows that up with a maiden over from the other end. Pujara having some trouble with the really full balls, but there’s not enough of them. Anything just short of length, he defends with relative ease.

Meanwhile, there is some genuine excitement on social media to see how this pans out for India.

13:45: We are all set for action. And well, well, well. FIRST BALL, KL RAHUL IS GONE! What a start for Sri Lanka. Lakmal gets it on the good length, it moves away sharply with extra bounce and he’s caught behind.

13:40: And there was a special moment at the Eden just as we were set for the action. Or rather, a ‘very very special’ moment with VVS Laxman ringing the bell at the site of his greatest innings.

13:30: The national anthems are done. The players walk out. And they walk back in at the same pace... raining again. Covers are back on. Oh well. That kind of a day.

13:15 pm: And the updated playing conditions for the day...

13:10 pm: Here are full playing XIs for the two teams

INDIA: Lokesh Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha (W), Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami

SRI LANKA: Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal (C), Niroshan Dickwella (W), Dasun Shanaka, Dilruwan Perera, Rangana Herath, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Gamage

Virat Kohli says that he would have also elected to bowl first, had he won the toss. India go with just five batsmen, going bottom-heavy here. Kaushal, Mendis and Pradeep will sit out for the Lankans as they go with six batsmen, four bowlers and a pace bowling all-rounder.

13:00: No surprises there. Dinesh Chandimal has won the toss and has elected to bowl first.

12:55: BCCI have announced that the toss will be at 13:00. A green top will welcome the players. There is little doubt that the team winning the toss will bowl first.

12:30: Little progress from where we last left. No rain at the moment but the covers still aren’t off. BCCI have announced that next inspection is at 12:45.

11:28: As expected, an early lunch has been taken. The covers are slowly coming off and there will be an inspection at 12:15.

11:15 am: The skies are clear, for the time being of course. There is still a lot of skepticism in the air as the anxious wait for the toss continues. The outfield covers are off but pitch remains covered.

Elsewhere, Saina Nehwal takes on Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi in the second round of the China Open. Here’s how she fared yesterday.

November 15 is etched in cricketing folklore as one of the most important days as two all-time greats took to the field for the first time for their respective countries. Have a look.

For the folks who missed out on some juicy Kohli anecdotes from the press conference yesterday, here is another look at why the India captain thinks he is not a robot.

10:25 am: It continues to drizzle at the Eden Gardens and the covers are still on. No trace of umpires or the groundstaff. However, the Indian players are happy campers in the dressing room, beating boredom with banter.

09:50 am: It was just a tease, wasn’t it? It is pouring again and the covers are back on. The spectators are running helter-skelter and the frustrating wait continues.

09:35 am: Finally, the sun is out, just about, though. There is still no announcement of when the toss will take place. The groundstaff are on the field.

...here, Vinayakk discusses why India have a India have a job to finish against a rejuvenated Sri Lanka.

If you have missed our build-up to the series, here is Ashish Magotra’s take on why India rightly have the South Africa tour in their sights ahead of Sri Lanka.

In case you didn’t know, Sri Lanka have never won a Test in India:

09:00 am: It is still looking ominous at the Eden Gardens as it inches towards toss time. It has been raining in Kolkata over the last few days. The day started with promise, though, but it has started to drizzle again and the covers are back on. The wait continues...

08:50 am: Hello and welcome to the live blog of the first Test match between India and (who else but) Sri Lanka, starting today at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This is the 11th meeting (across formats) between the two sides this year and we have 8 more to come. Brace yourself, folks.

And here’s a quick reminder of how often the two teams have played against each other in the past decade.