Opener lokesh Rahul struck a fluent century as India recovered from early jitters to reach 319 for six in their first innings to leave the second cricket Test against Sri lanka evenly poised here on Thursday.
Opting to bat, the visitors lost opener Murali Vijay (0) and Ajinkya Rahane (4), surprisingly promoted to number three, with only 12 runs on the board before young Rahul (108) and skipper Virat Kohli (78) resurrected the innings with an attractive 164 run third wicket partnership.
Rohit Sharma also chipped in with a strokeful 79 but was dismissed at the fag end of an engrossing opening day’s play which saw both the teams sharing the honours.
This was Rahul’s second Test hundred as he faced 190 balls hitting 13 boundaries and a six in the process. Kohli, who looked good for another Test ton scored 78 off 107 balls with eight boundaries and a six.
The Indian captain was unlucky to miss out on his 12th Test hundred after rival skipper Angelo Mathews took a smart diving catch off Herath’s bowling.
Under-fire Rohit Sharma, however, justified the immense faith shown in him by the team management as he somewhat redeemed himself with a stylish knock after his twin failures in the 63-run defeat at Galle.
Indian team management’s decision to try Stuart Binny (10) as an all-rounder did not work in this Test match as the Karnataka player looked totally out of sorts during his 40-ball innings before playing a terrible shot which brought about his downfall.
At stumps, Wriddhiman Saha was unbeaten on 19 as play was called off immediately after Sharma’s dismissal.
It was Indian captain Kohli, who won the toss and decided to bat on a hard strip that had some bounce and carry.
Vijay, who missed the last Test due to hamstring injury, had a forgettable comeback as Dhamika Prasad trapped him leg-before with a delivery that came in a shade after pitching in line with the stumps.
In order to shield Rohit from the new ball, the dependable Rahane was sent at the crucial number 3 position and he started with a boundary.
However, Prasad got him with an outswinger that he tried to drive on the up and was caught in the slips by Dimuth Karunaratne.
It was then that skipper Kohli joined Rahul and the duo started the repair work cautiously but were positive in their strokeplay. Rahul got a reprieve when he was on 11 and made the most of it.
Post lunch break, the pair carried on their partnership in a bid to build the Indian innings further. The skipper scored his 11th Test fifty off 63 balls immediately after the break and in doing so also brought up the 100-mark for India in the 28th over. While he had looked fluent until the landmark, he suddenly looked very edgy for a brief period of play thereafter.
Kohli scored only two runs in 32 minutes during this passage of play, and it was left to Rahul to keep the scorecard ticking. The youngster didn’t disappoint and reached his first Test fifty off 94 balls. Their 100-run partnership had earlier come in the 29th over.
‘looking to restrict below 350’
Sri lanka pacer Dhammika Prasad on Thursday said that his team conceded the early advantage to India, but vowed to come back stronger and restrict the visitors to around 350 in their first innings.
India, despite losing two wickets for just 12 runs after opting to bat, recovered to reach 319 for six at stumps on day one of the ongoing second Test here.
“We have to get the last four wickets very quickly. If we get them out for less than 350, that’s what we would be hoping for. If we give them more runs it will make things difficult for us,” said Prasad.
India Opener Kl Rahul (108) struck a fluent century, besides adding 164 runs with skipper Virat Kohli (78) and another 55 runs with Rohit Sharma (79) to cap off a good day for the visitors but Prasad said the home team bowlers did well in patches.
“We bowled well at the start and towards the end. There was a good partnership after our good start, but now we’ve come back into the game, I think. We were in a good place, but we gave some runs away towards the end,” he said.
Rahul got a life early in the first session when Jehan Mubarak dropped him at gully and Prasad admitted that the day could have turned out differently had the catch been taken.
“We were a little disadvantaged by dropping that catch at that time. Had we taken that catch of Rahul, the first session would have been different. We might have been able to take even more wickets with a new batsman coming to the crease. That did cost us a bit,” said Prasad.
sunny criticises batting order
lashing out at the Indian team management’s decision to force Ajinkya Rahane bat at number three, former captain Sunil Gavaskar today said the think-tank has “sacrificed” an “uncomplaining” cricketer.
Rahane has almost made the number five slot his own in Tests but the team management reshuffled the batting order with Rahane batting at number three and Rohit Sharma at five.
“I have just got to be blunt, they have just sacrificed a good man. He’s one of those nice and quiet guys who won’t say anything. He has been pushed to number three when he had success at number five. It’s hard on him,” Gavaskar told NDTV.
“But he will do whatever is needed. He comes from Rahul Dravid school. He’s Rahane’s mentor and he will do the same thing. “If Virat bats at number for, number three is open to discussion. It’s better if he bats at number four of five when the ball is not doing much. He’s loyal and uncomplaining servant of Indian cricket in his short career.” he concluded.