Colombo, August 10: A dangerous wicket forced play to be called off after just one over on the third and final day of India's tour match against Sri Lanka Board on Friday.

India declared their first innings closed at the overnight total of 281-5 after facing a testing over from fast bowler Dinusha Fernando.

A couple of deliveries to Sameer Dighe rose alarmingly and India skipper Sourav Ganguly consulted coach John Wright before declaring the innings closed. Ganguly top-scored for the tourists with an unbeaten 74.

Umpires Lalith Jayasundara and Gamini Silva inspected the pitch conditions before deciding to call off play with the match declared a draw.

The home team had scored 326 in their first innings.

"The wicket was very bad," Ganguly said. "We decided to stop the game after one over to prevent injuries.

"The ground staff tried to repair the pitch though it was not in the rules. We waited till 2 p.m. local time (0800 GMT), but the wicket was so wet that it was not possible to continue the game."

The Indian captain was disappointed with his middle-order batsmen's performance in the only warm-up game before the three-Test series against Sri Lanka starts at Galle on August 14.

"I was looking forward to an impressive performance from the middle-order batsmen before the first Test," he said. "I hope they put up a better show in Tests."

Middle-order batsmen Mohammad Kaif (6), Dinesh Mongia (11) and Hemang Badani (12) all flopped in India's only innings to add to the skipper's worries in the absence of an injured Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar has pulled out of the tour because of a toe injury, sustained during a triangular series in Zimbabwe last month.

"It is sad that he (Tendulkar) is not coming," Ganguly said. "But you cannot help it if he is injured. We have to perform with what we have."

The Indian captain, however, was all praise for openers Shiv Sunder Das and Sadagopan Ramesh, who scored half-centuries on Thursday.