Virat Kohli headlined the news pieces till the morning but Rishabh Pant snatched the limelight by the end of the day. The southpaw wreaked havoc on a bleak Sri Lankan bowling line-up as he scored 96 runs off just 97 deliveries. Rishabh batted sensibly for his first fifty runs as he reached his half-ton in 73 balls. But the Delhi Capitals’ captain decided to switch gears as he scored his next 46 runs in no time. A loose defence off Suranga Lakmal allowed the ball to hit his off stump and send him back to the dugout. However, he did his job perfectly as India take honours after Day 1 of the India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test.
India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test, Day 1: India 357-6
Former Indian captain, Virat Kohli, was felicitated before the toss as he was handed a special cap with a number 100 on it by coach Rahul Dravid. Virat became the 71st player in the history of test cricket to play hundred test matches.
Also Read: Virat Kohli becomes 6th Indian batter to score 8000 Runs in Test Cricket
Hanuma Vihari seizes the opportunity, Virat Kohli again misses out on the century
Rohit Sharma won the toss on his Test captaincy debut and decided to bat first. After a lot of ifs and buts, Hanuma Vihari and Shreyas Iyer were drafted into the XI as Shubhman Gill was left out. India had a decent opening partnership of 52 runs before Rohit(29) was dismissed by Lahiru Kumara. Rohit’s shot selection came under the scanner as he, yet again, got out while attempting a pull shot. Nevertheless, the next man in was Hanuma Vihari who played a solid knock today. After being continuously in and out of the Indian squad, Vihari has now locked his position at number 3 for the time being with a gritty knock of 58 runs today.
Mayank Agarwal could not capitalize on the opportunity thrown at him as he got out for mere 33 runs. But his wicket off Embuldeniya brought the man of the moment, Virat Kohli, onto the crease. Virat looked solid throughout his innings of 45 before being bowled by Embuldeniya. Fans all over the world were expecting Kohli’s 71st hundred, but today was not the day for Virat. After Virat, Shreyas Iyer, too, could not capitalize on the start he got.
India found themselves in a tricky position(228-5) after the dismissal of Shreyas Iyer(27). But a belligerent Rishabh Pant took India to a very comfortable position with his 96 runs. He was well supported by Ravindra Jadeja who’s already scored 45 runs and is still there on the crease. Along with Ravichandran Ashwin, Jadeja will look to take India forward. With Jayant Yadav yet to bat, India would certainly fancy their chances of scoring over 450 runs.
Sri Lanka’s woes
As for the visitors, nothing went their way today. Lasith Embuldeniya was the only positive for them but Rishabh’s assault ruined his stats. Suranga Lakman bowled decently with the new ball but he, too, leaked a lot of runs. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, Lahiru Kumara injured himself during his 11th over and didn’t take the field for the rest of the day. Sri Lanka will hope that the injury isn’t bad enough to disallow Kumara from taking the field tomorrow as well.
Summary
India: 357-6 (Rishabh 96, Vihari 58 & Embuldeniya 2/107)
