The opening day of Virat Kohli’s 100th Test wasn’t perfect for the former India captain. Quite against the run of play, Kohli’s innings was cut short just five shy of a half-century.
Team India, though, had few reasons to complain as, courtesy Rishabh Pant’s blitz (96 off just 97 balls), they raced to 357/6 on Day I of the first Test versus Sri Lanka at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali.
Some credit would also go to Hanuma Vihari (58), who looked stoic for a major part of his stay and also stitched a crucial 90-run third-wicket partnership with Kohli that laid a decent foundation for India. That stand was important after captain Rohit Sharma and his opening partner Mayank Agarwal perished in spite of getting off to fluent starts.
At stumps on Friday, Ravindra Jadeja was batting on 45. Ravichandran Ashwin (batting on 10) will resume the innings with Jadeja on Saturday.
A fair amount of turn has been on offer from the first day itself, especially when the ball was pitched on the drier areas of the wicket. The odd ball kept low as well. On such a surface, India certainly won a good toss and rightly opted to bat first in Rohit’s first Test as captain. With already more than 350 on the board, India will look to call the shots in the remaining days of the Test.
Trust in instincts
A mini-collapse, when India slumped to 228/5 from a strong position of 170/2, had raised hopes for Sri Lanka. Not just for India, it was a tricky situation for Pant as well.
Would he play his usual game or was it better if he checked himself? But the wicketkeeper-batsman banked on his instincts and focused on his natural game. A calm and composed Jadeja at the other end was equally important in ensuring Pant stuck to his game.
After a reasonably watchful start, the well-set Pant then unleashed a barrage of cracking shots, taking his strike rate past 100 at one stage.
He surely deserved a hundred, but the manner of his dismissal off Suranga Lakmal underlines the fact that Pant still needs to work a little bit with head coach Rahul Dravid to tighten his defence.
