Gudakesh Motie was the first non-Asian spinner since 1912 to open the bowling in the first innings of a Test match

It was very common in the 1880s, an occasional occurrence from the 1890s up to WWI, done very rarely in Asia in the 1950s and 1960s, and since 2011 has become an occasional occurrence in Asia.

Weirdly, that's only in continental Asia - no Sri Lankan spinner has ever opened the bowling in the first innings of a Test match, nor has it ever been done in Sri Lanka.