Sri Lanka's Fall at Galle, Ashwin's Wicket Haul

'Aggression' was the key word ahead of the Galle Test. 'Rain' was the key fear. 'Kumar Sangakkara' the key name. R Ashwin was just one of 22 players that would take the field. As it turned out, the Super King from Chennai, ruled the surroundings of the Galle Fort.(Day 1 Report|Scorecard|Highlights)

Aggression was only visible in the alarming rate at which the Indians bowled out the Sri Lankans.

Rain seemed to have had enough of pouring down on the Galle grass over the past few days, not showing up even once. The storm instead hit India's Parliament but more on that later.

Kumar Sangakkara, would have felt the pressure the moment he entered the Galle International stadium on day 1. Every open space near the entrance was plastered with posters of the 37 year old. Yet, the elder statesman of Sri Lankan cricket, the last of a generation, was only able to give the many Sri Lankan fans that came to watch him, a 12 ball taste of what Sri Lanka will miss. Barring Angelo Mathews, Sanga, even in just 12 chances, looked like the most comfortable Sri Lankan on the pitch.

The flip of the coin, didn't go India's way but the conditions favored them. The pitch was soaking in the sun after almost two days of lying in the dark. But before it could get its moment in the sun, the Indians got theirs. Ishant Sharma's first over saw him extract enough bounce to seemingly rattle the Sri Lankan openers. They wouldn't last long falling with just 15 on the board.

R Ashwin struck in his first over and it seemed like Virat's confidence in him (seeking to play Ashwin as India's all-rounder) was already bearing fruit (So what if he was yet to bat?). Sri Lanka's batters, it seemed couldn't believe the sun was out and faded away in less than the time allotted to a one day game.

The only hope they had was from the Angel(o) in their team. But after scoring a flawless 64, Mathews played a needless shot, and Rohit Sharma pulled out some remarkable juggling tricks to literally seize the day for India.

Dinesh Chandimal, attempted to counter attack, and took 4 fours of one Varun Aaron over, prompting one bird to tweet - 'How does Aaron manage to maintain the same economy rate in all forms of the game?'. Aaron finished the innings with an economy rate of 6.18.

Rangana Herath was bold to attempt a reverse sweep of Amit Mishra. Mishra could only stare at his opponent in disbelief at the utter stupidity of the shot at the time. Sure enough, playing a sweep shot is how Herath and Sri Lanka's innings would end.

R Ashwin finished with figures of 6 for 46, the best figures by an Indian bowler in Sri Lanka. That record was previously held by Harbhajan Singh so it was quite a sight to see him congratulate Ashwin at the end of India's innings.

Sri Lanka's backs were against the wall (quite literally, with the Galle fort, behind the stadium). Sri Lanka had been bowled out for 183, losing their last 5 wickets for 44 runs. Yet, back in India, all was not 'well'. The real drama it seemed was occurring in the parliament with Sonia Gandhi entering the Lok Sabha Well to protest and Sushma Swaraj asking Rahul Gandhi to 'read your family history on your next holiday'. The journalists here knew they were in the wrong place for the action.

Out came Cheteshwar Pujara. Not to bat but for what seemed like a grueling sprinting session. He was clearly making the most of not making the playing XI.

Lokesh Rahul reminded all and sundry that there's a first choice Indian Test opener injured in Murali Vijay by falling for just 7. Rohit Sharma had a tryst with Lady Love with a no ball saving him from being sent back to the pavilion but shortly after cupid's greatest target would leave Rohit's side.

It seemed like she had gone over to Shikhar's. The southpaw was dropped by Angelo Mathews on 28.

The sun played hide and seek for a while. Sri Lanka though will need more than the expected rain to rescue them in this situation.