Virat Kohli and Murali Vijay put on 283 runs for the 3rd wicket to help India reach a massive total of 371 runs for the loss of just 4 wickets on day 1 of the 3rd and final test at Kolkata.
Lankans would be breathing a sigh of relief going back to the pavilion after a very long and miserable day on the field at the hands of the Indians. It was one of those days where the batting side was rollicking on and absolutely nothing was going in favour of the bowling side.
First session saw Indians post 116 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. In form Dhawan became the 100th test scalp for Dilruwan Perera who became the fastest Sri Lankan to that feat beating the great Muttiah Muralitharan with 2 games to spare. He was shortly followed by Pujara who fell for the leg side trap set by Chandimal to the bowling of Gamage.
Even though the Indians scored more than 100 runs in the session, Lankans would have taken that session give the fact that they managed to get rid of two in-form batsmen. Unfortunately for the visitors, both the batsmen were replaced by another two centurions Kohli and Vijay from the last match who enjoyed batting at a flat deck against a flat bowling attack.
Second session was a one-sided affair. Kohli pushed on and his half century came off at quick pace. On the other end Murali Vijay slowly but elegantly reached his second consecutive century after coming back to the side in the last match. The pair managed to see of the session without any hassle whatsoever as they managed to add 129 runs in the session.
Third session was somewhat slowed down a notch. It was mainly due to the bowling of Dhananjaya De Silva. Replacing Dasun Shanka as the specialist all-rounder in the side, he did a brilliant job with the ball. His pace and control of the ball troubled the likes of Kohli who almost chipped the ball straight to mid-wicket quite few times.
Kohli reached his century shortly after the tea break. Century no 20 for the master who became the 4th fastest to reach the milestone and became the first captain ever to score three centuries in all 3 matches in a 3-match series.
Credit should be given to the Lankan skipper who tried different tactics in field placings but unfortunately the bowlers could not maintain any consistency which helped the strong Indian batsmen to pile up the runs. Both Vijay and Kohli reached the 150 and they were looking good to see off the day but that’s when Dickwella produced some magic in the field.
Sandakan who struggled from morning with overstepping and length produced two top notch wrong’uns to dismiss Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane. Lankans would surely be relieved to see the back of those two batmen but they still have a mammoth task ahead of them.
