IND v SL, 3rd Test, Day 1 Review: Kohli and Vijay fire India to a breathtaking start

Tons from Virat Kohli and Murali Vijay propelled India to gigantic first day total at the Feroz Shah Kotla as the Lankans were left clueless. Barring the last six or seven overs of the day, where Lakshan Sandakan chipped in with two crucial wickets out of the blue. With India finishing day 1 at 371 for the loss of four wickets, the hosts are on course for a mammoth first innings total.

It all began on a positive note with Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan spanking the new ball to all corridors. Yet, he failed to make the most of that good start as Dilruwan Perera picked up the crucial wicket of the southpaw. Cheteshwar Pujara was in an overdrive mood on the day as he kept scoring at over a strike-rate of 60. He didn’t stick around for long as well as Chandimal’s leg-slip tactic paid off with the cool and calm customer giving a simple catch to Samarawickrama.

A marathon partnership commenced after Pujara’s wicket as Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli dominated the proceeding without showing any respect to the visitors. Kohli’s magical form continued as he once again scored a strike-rate well in excess of 80. When he plays this way, batting looks as easy as picking up a glass of water and drinking it.

Murali Vijay anchored the innings brilliantly as the Indian skipper made a mockery of the bowling lineup. They scored at a rate just over 4 in the first session and in the second session, it crept up over 4.6. Just before the second session came to end, Murali Vijay spanked a boundary through covers to bring up his 11th Test match hundred and Kohli remained in the 90s at the Tea break.

Lacklustre bowling helps India boss the day

It was such a poor effort from the Lankan bowlers. Chandimal had a few tactics in mind and it was good to see him trying to make the batsmen think, but the bowlers reciprocated ludicrously, bowling wayward lines and leaking runs. He kept searching around the ground for a bowler who could give him a wicket, but that never happened and the scoreboard kept running towards the 400-mark.

Lakshan Sandakan bowled six no-balls on the day, which is unacceptable for a spinner. His bad temperament and lost rhythm was a blessing in disguise for the Indian batters, who scored runs of almost every ball against him. Kohli completed his hundred in the final session as well and he became the fastest amongst Indian batters to reach the 20 centuries mark.

The run-rate dipped slightly in the final session. Dananjaya de Silva started extracting a little bonce and turn off the track and he came close to picking wickets. But These two gentlemen started scoring at just over 3.75 an over, which isn’t a bad rate, but it seemed relatively slow. Nevertheless, Murali Vijay proved once again why he’s called a monk as he got to his 150 without struggling much.

Sandakan nevertheless finished the day on a high. He first sent Murali Vijay back by deceiving him with a slower one and Niroshan Dickwella’s smart stumping did the trick. Dickwella replicated a similar stumping in Sandakan’s next over and they finished the final session with two big wickets of Vijay and Rahane.

Virat Kohli finished with 156 off 186 balls, which included 16 boundaries. He is currently batting with Rohit Sharma and is highly likely to score yet another double-century. Talk about the skipper leading from the front, there ain’t many better examples then Kohli and Steve Smith currently.

Brief Scores

India: 371/4 in 90 overs (Murali Vijay 155, Virat Kohli 156*; Lakshan Sandakan 2/110)