Colombo: Overseas cricket tours are tricky. It doesn't really matter how early you reach and how hard you practice to get used to the conditions, for you are always slightly undercooked at the start of the series.


Rohit Sharma after a practice session ahead of the second Test at the P Sara Oval yesterday. Pic/Solaris Images 

There are things that are always unknown to you like how a certain pitch is likely to behave on the fourth-fifth day and at times, in the case of Galle, even on the first day. Then there's a small matter of crowd getting behind the home team, which allows them to convert a small advantage into an unstoppable wave called 'momentum'.