Kohli walked out to a standing ovation from the limited crowd in Mohali and stood unbeaten on 15 at the break. Hanuma Vihari was batting on 30.

Kohli's straight drive for four off Vishwa Fernando drew loud celebrations at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium, where the crowd was capped at 50-percent capacity.

Rohit, who won the toss and chose to bat at the start of the two-match series, began his journey as Test leader with a brisk 29 before falling to fast bowler Lahiru Kumara inside the first hour of play.

Rohit, who last month replaced Kohli as captain across all formats, hit Kumara for two successive boundaries including a well-executed pull but soon got caught at long leg in another attempt to smash the short ball.

Mayank Agarwal and Vihari, selected alongside Shreyas Iyer in place of old guards Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, attempted to rebuild before spinner Lasith Embuldeniya broke the stand.

Embuldeniya, a left-arm spinner and one of the two slower bowlers for Sri Lanka -- hoping for the first-ever Test victory in India in their 300th five-day game -- trapped Agarwal lbw for 33.

Before the match, Kohli, alongside Bollywood actress wife Anushka Sharma, was presented with a special cap by coach Rahul Dravid as top officials of India's cricket board including president Sourav Ganguly clapped from the balcony.