Rohit Sharma tries his hands at bowling in the nets with the pink ball

The historic Day-Night Test match is in full flow at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. From the Indian fast bowlers creating havoc courtsey their pace, craft, relentlessness, and hostility to Virat Kohli masterly hundred on the second day, more than 50,000 fans at the Mecca of Indian cricket have been witness to some exhilarating cricket from the No.1 Test side in the world.

And, while they may not have been able to see Rohit Sharma – the batsman- in full flow, it was his seam-up bowling during Team India’s practice session that caught everyone’s eye. With the Pink ball moving around places, it would have perhaps encouraged Sharma- the swashbuckling opener- to try his hands at bowling in the nets under the guidance of bowling coach Bharat Arun.

Rohit Sharma misses out, but Kohli doesn’t!

Meanwhile, the Indian opener could not emulate his past heroics at the Eden Gardens with the bat during the hosts’ first innings. On a ground where the four-time IPL winning captain has racked up a Ranji Trophy double-hundred, a Test hundred on debut (against West Indies in 2013) and a world-record ODI double-hundred when he scored that unbelievable 264 against a hapless Sri Lankan attack five years ago in 2014, Sharma could only manage 21 runs before he was rapped on the pads by Ebadot Hossain.

His opening partner and the double centurion from the last game at Indore, Mayank Agarwal too had a rare failure when he was caught at short third-man for a 21-ball 14.

But, unlike the openers, Indian skipper Virat Kohli wasn’t going to let the historic Test pass by without stamping his authority on it. Kohli quickly got into his groove and smoked a chanceless, nonchalant, pristine, call whatever you want to, 27th Test hundred to spearhead the Indian batting unit.

This was Virat’s 41st ton as captain and he equaled Ricky Ponting’s record in exactly half the number of innings as taken by the former Australian captain. While Virat took 188 innings to achieve the milestone, Ponting took 376 knocks to do the same. Kohli’s innings was cut short by a blinder of a catch by Taijul Islam at deep square-leg.

Rohit bowling some seam-up with the pink ball ahead of Day 2 pic.twitter.com/1Sjg78mVwE

— Aritra Mukherjee (@aritram029) November 23, 2019