As far as day one of a tour match goes, India will be relatively pleased. On a fairly placid NCC pitch - albeit one with assistance for the spinners - the Sri Lanka Cricket XI openers ran up a 100 stand, while India's bowlers highlighted exactly why many felt they might be a tad undercooked coming into this series.
Mohammed Siraj hadn't played any sort of cricket in two months, while Prasidh Krishna has just seven Tests under his belt. As for the third seamer in operation, Gurnoor Brar, he remains uncapped though he does have the benefit of having toured Sri Lanka with the A team in July. The other seamer in the squad, Auqib Nabi, who came in as Jasprit Bumrah's replacement, did not bowl on the day.
On the spin bowling front, Ravindra Jadeja, for all his red-ball repute, hasn't played a Test since last November, while Kuldeep Yadav's inclusion in the Test side has been quite sporadic as highlighted by his just 18 Tests since debuting in 2017. And alongside them are the green pair of Manav Suthar, who made his debut against Afghanistan earlier this year, and Saransh Jain, who is yet to earn a cap.
In this context, the openers ticking along at five an over wasn't totally a surprise, but what would have pleased the visitors was how their ragtag attack grew into the game and chipped away. Sure, there was some poor shot selection along the way, but for the most part the plans were stuck to and the rewards were reaped. Eight wickets in one day isn't shabby by any metric, though the 363 runs leaked will be some cause for concern - the extent of that concern however will only be revealed once India come out to bat.
But in terms of ticking off the necessary boxes, India will consider it a job well done. Kuldeep completed 18 overs including a lengthy 14-over spell interrupted only by a change of ends. And in his outing rather than adapting to the placid surface by speeding up his trajectory, he chose to double down on his strengths. He bravely gave the ball air, using the intermittent breeze to gain drift. The SLC XI batters were keen to use their feet in conjunction with the sweep, but as Kuldeep began to find his rhythm those tactics came with increasingly more peril.
The dismissal of Ahan Wickramasinghe was case in point, as Kuldeep had the young batter in all sorts of bother with variations speed, trajectory and direction - several batters in fact struggled to pick his googly. In one particular over edges were found and beaten, forcing Wickramasinghe to employ the sweep in the following over only to fall via top edge.
Kuldeep's second came straight after a drinks interval with the break in play leading to an ill-judged attempt at a cut from the left-handed - and highly rated - Anjala Bandara. The ball skid through having straightened down the line of off and struck the back pad in front of the stumps.
Alongside Kuldeep, there were promising outings from Jadeja and Suthar as well, with the former focused on simply finding match rhythm - his 15 overs were split across three spells and brought about two wickets, both coming about as batters misread his subtle variations in length, going back when they ought to have pressed forward.
The latter, at the opposite end of his fledgling Test career, built on the promise he had shown during his debut seven-wicket outing against Afghanistan. Where each of India's other spinners went at about four an over, Suthar was miserly with an economy rate of 2.53.
Representing the next generation of Indian left-arm spinners, Suthar's spell was less about suffocating the batsmen and more about enticing them into errors through subtle changes through the air. He showed excellent maturity by resisting the urge to bowl too fast, instead, giving the ball air, and at times changing release angles from the crease to drift the ball into the right-handers before making it turn away.
He was instrumental in breaking the opening stand partnership, showing alertness in the field to run-out Nishan Madushka. He then claimed the crucial wicket of the well-set Ravindu Rasantha, deceiving him with a clever drop in pace that forced the opener to miscue an attempted loft straight to mid-off.
While Suthar is unlikely to unseat Jadeja or Kuldeep for the series opener, his performance proved his readiness, and India will certainly have to ponder if they include a second left-arm spinner in the XI.
But as India's established and emerging spin options found joy on the opening day, offspinner Saransh Jain endured a gruelling outing. He finished the day wicketless, getting a first-hand look at how unforgiving Sri Lankan tracks can be when batters find their rhythm.
Operating as the lone frontline off-break option, his flatter, quicker trajectory played right into the hosts' hands, as batters repeatedly shuffled down the wicket to smother his spin or swept to disrupt his length. While the lack of boundaries he conceded - just four - points to a relatively disciplined spell, the opposition still able to rotate strike with ease, which played a role in his hefty economy rate of 4.90.
The seamers, meanwhile, varied their lengths early on to test the openers, even if boundary balls were offered up a little too often. But for Prasidh and Siraj, this was more about trial and error than anything else.
Brar, who has pedigree at Galle with 10 wickets playing for the A team, was playing for his position in the XI. And he was put through his paces. First with a relatively new ball, then midway through the innings with the old one - leaning heavily on his height to extract uncomfortable bounce - before finally being given the second cherry just before the close of play.
His solitary wicket though came with the old ball. After a sequence of testing deliveries, Brar shortened his length slightly, inducing a pull from Pavan Rathnayake straight to backward square leg. With Galle on the horizon, Brar has already proved he can manufacture life out of its pitches. His ability to extract uncomfortable bounce from a slightly fuller length, combined with stamina for high-effort spells, could make him a useful point of attack.
That said, India's focus will have primarily been on their spinners, and on that front they would have been encouraged by Friday's first outing.