Earlier on Friday, Indian left-arm spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja (3/31) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/14) shared seven wickets between them to bundle out the hosts for a paltry 187.
Thereafter, Rahul fired a quickfire half century while losing fellow opener Abhinav Mukund (0) and one-down Cheteshwar Pujara (12) in quick succession.
Thereafter, Kohli and Rahane joined forces as India ended the first day at 135/3.
Brief Scores: SLC President's XI 187 ((Danushka Gunathilaka 74, Lahiru Thirimanne 59, Kuldeep Yadav 4/14, Ravindra Jadeja 3/31) vs India 312/9 declared: (Lokesh Rahul 54, Virat Kohli 53, Shikhar Dhawan 41, Ajinkya Rahane 40, Vishwa Fernando 2/37).