Rishabh Pant struck a destructive 96 off 97 deliveries, to put hosts well on top on day 1 of the 1st Test between India and Sri Lanka. At stumps, the hosts were sitting pretty on 357/6.
India got off to a quick start, scoring as many as 8 boundaries in the 1st 8 overs, with Sri Lanka’s 3-pacemen strategy looking more and more dubious. Lahiru Kumara was brought into the attack in the 8th over and was promptly taken to the sword by Sharma, who smashed 4 boundaries off the quick in his first 9 deliveries. Kumara had the last laugh however, as the Indian skipper pulled one straight to the fielder at deep fine-leg to give Sri Lanka the breakthrough they needed.
That helped Sri Lanka stem the flow of runs and Kumara and Embuldeniya bowled well in tandem in the 1st session, despite the pitch not offering much.
Embuldeniya, Sri Lanka’s only spinner for the Test got into beautiful rhythm and was rewarded with the wicket of Agarwal and later Virat Kohli, the latter falling short of a half-century by 5 runs. By Tea, the match looked evenly poised, with Sri Lanka chipping away the wickets column, while also getting a hold of the run rate.
Pant build a steady 53-run partnership alongside Shreyas Iyer, before the latter was finally dismissed for the first time this series. Things looked to be in control for Sri Lanka, but that was before Pant, just got stuck into the visitors spinners, smashing 2 sixes and 2 fours off Embuldeniya’s 27th over.
That over seemed to be tipping point for the hosts, as Pant raced from 50 off 73 deliveries to 92 off 89 within the span of 4 overs, completely taking away any hope Sri Lanka might have had of restricting the hosts to below 350.
The left-hander fell for 96, his 50th dismissal in the 90s, but had by then taken the game well and truly away from Sri Lanka.
The visitors, who came into this game with 3 pacemen, lost Lahiru Kumara midway through the last session, further debilitating a bowling attack, that has not played any first class cricket since November 2021.
Result
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayank Agarwal | lbw b Lasith Embuldeniya | 33 | 49 | 5 | 0 | 67.35 |
| Rohit Sharma | c Suranga Lakmal b Lahiru Kumara | 29 | 28 | 6 | 0 | 103.57 |
| Hanuma Vihari | b Vishwa Fernando | 58 | 128 | 5 | 0 | 45.31 |
| Virat Kohli | b Lasith Embuldeniya | 45 | 76 | 5 | 0 | 59.21 |
| Rishabh Pant | b Suranga Lakmal | 96 | 97 | 9 | 4 | 98.97 |
| Shreyas Iyer | lbw b Dhananjaya de Silva | 27 | 48 | 3 | 0 | 56.25 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | not out | 175 | 228 | 17 | 3 | 76.75 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | c Niroshan Dickwella b Suranga Lakmal | 61 | 82 | 8 | 0 | 74.39 |
| Jayant Yadav | c Lahiru Thirimanne b Vishwa Fernando | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 11.11 |
| Mohammed Shami | not out | 20 | 34 | 3 | 0 | 58.82 |
| Extras | 28 (b 4 , lb 12 , nb 12, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 574/8 (129.2 Overs, RR: 4.44) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-52 (9.5) Rohit Sharma, 2-80 (18.3) Mayank Agarwal, 3-170 (43.3) Virat Kohli, 4-175 (46.3) Hanuma Vihari, 5-228 (61.1) Shreyas Iyer, 6-332 (80.5) Rishabh Pant, 7-462 (109.4) Ravichandran Ashwin, 8-471 (113.6) Jayant Yadav, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suranga Lakmal | 25 | 1 | 90 | 2 | 3.60 | |
| Vishwa Fernando | 26 | 1 | 135 | 2 | 5.19 | |
| Lahiru Kumara | 10.5 | 1 | 52 | 1 | 4.95 | |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | 46 | 3 | 188 | 2 | 4.09 | |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | 18.2 | 1 | 79 | 1 | 4.34 | |
| Charith Asalanka | 3.1 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 4.52 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimuth Karunaratne | lbw b Ravindra Jadeja | 28 | 71 | 5 | 0 | 39.44 |
| Lahiru Thirimanne | lbw b Ravichandran Ashwin | 17 | 60 | 1 | 0 | 28.33 |
| Pathum Nissanka | not out | 61 | 133 | 11 | 0 | 45.86 |
| Angelo Mathews | lbw b Jasprit Bumrah | 22 | 39 | 1 | 1 | 56.41 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | lbw b Ravichandran Ashwin | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 12.50 |
| Charith Asalanka | lbw b Jasprit Bumrah | 29 | 64 | 5 | 0 | 45.31 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | c Shreyas Iyer b Ravindra Jadeja | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| Suranga Lakmal | c Ravichandran Ashwin b Ravindra Jadeja | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | c Mayank Agarwal b Mohammed Shami | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Vishwa Fernando | c Rohit Sharma b Ravindra Jadeja | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lahiru Kumara | b Ravindra Jadeja | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras | 14 (b 0 , lb 6 , nb 8, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 174/10 (65 Overs, RR: 2.68) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-48 (18.2) Lahiru Thirimanne, 2-59 (24.2) Dimuth Karunaratne, 3-96 (33.6) Angelo Mathews, 4-103 (38.1) Dhananjaya de Silva, 5-161 (57.6) Charith Asalanka, 6-164 (60.4) Niroshan Dickwella, 7-164 (60.6) Suranga Lakmal, 8-173 (63.3) Lasith Embuldeniya, 9-174 (64.5) Vishwa Fernando, 10-174 (64.6) Lahiru Kumara, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammed Shami | 12 | 5 | 27 | 1 | 2.25 | |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 14 | 3 | 36 | 2 | 2.57 | |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 20 | 7 | 49 | 2 | 2.45 | |
| Jayant Yadav | 6 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 2.50 | |
| Ravindra Jadedja | 13 | 4 | 41 | 5 | 3.15 | |
| Batsmen | R | B | 4s | 6s | SR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lahiru Thirimanne | c Rohit Sharma b Ravichandran Ashwin | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | c Rishab Pant b Mohammed Shami | 27 | 42 | 6 | 0 | 64.29 |
| Pathum Nissanka | c Rishab Pant b Ravichandran Ashwin | 6 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 31.58 |
| Angelo Mathews | lbw b | 28 | 75 | 2 | 1 | 37.33 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | c Shreyas Iyer b Ravindra Jadeja | 30 | 58 | 5 | 0 | 51.72 |
| Charith Asalanka | c Virat Kohli b Ravichandran Ashwin | 20 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 222.22 |
| Niroshan Dickwella | not out | 51 | 81 | 0 | 0 | 62.96 |
| Suranga Lakmal | c Jayant Yadav b Ravindra Jadedja | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lasith Embuldeniya | c Rishab Pant b Ravindra Jadeja | 2 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 4.76 |
| Vishwa Fernando | lbw b Mohammed Shami | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Lahiru Kumara | c Mohammed Shami b Ravichandran Ashwin | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 28.57 |
| Extras | 10 (b 4 , lb 5 , nb 1, w 0, pen 0) |
| Total | 178/10 (60 Overs, RR: 2.97) |
| Fall of Wickets | 1-9 (2.3) Lahiru Thirimanne, 2-19 (6.5) Pathum Nissanka, 3-45 (15.5) Dimuth Karunaratne, 4-94 (32.5) Dhananjaya de Silva, 5-121 (35.3) Charith Asalanka, 6-121 (36.2) Angelo Mathews, 7-121 (36.5) Suranga Lakmal, 8-153 (50.6) Lasith Embuldeniya, 9-170 (53.6) Vishwa Fernando, 10-178 (59.6) Lahiru Kumara, |
| Bowling | O | M | R | W | Econ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 21 | 5 | 47 | 4 | 2.24 | |
| Mohammed Shami | 8 | 1 | 48 | 2 | 6.00 | |
| Ravindra Jadedja | 16 | 5 | 46 | 4 | 2.88 | |
| Jayant Yadav | 11 | 3 | 21 | 0 | 1.91 | |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 1.75 | |
