India vs Sri Lanka 3rd Test, Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, Delhi, Day 1, stumps -after 90 overs, IND – 371/4. On day 1, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Murali Vijaya and Shikhar Dhawan gave a good start to the side. The batting duo added a total of 42 runs for the first wicket before Dhawan was removed by Dilruwan Perera. Dhawan ended up scoring 23 runs off 35 balls. The next man in was Cheteshwar Pujara who had hit a century in Nagpur. However, he couldn’t repeat the performance in Delhi and lost his wicket to Lahiru Gamage on 23.
Murali Vijay kept on scoring runs and got the 16th Test fifty of his career. He was joined by the Indian skipper before the lunch. In the second session, Murali and Kohli anchored the Indian inning perfectly and hammered the Lankan bowling attack. Murali Vijay scored his 11th Test fifty while Kohli was got his yet another half-century in Tests.
Right after the tea, Virat Kohli also got a Test hundred. It was his 20th century in the whites and became the fastest batsmen to score 16000 international runs. He also became the 2nd Indian batsmen fastest to 20 Test tonnes and also became the first ever captain to score at least one century in every match of a 3-match Test series.
Towards the end of day 1’s play, both the set batsmen got their respective 150s. However, the Lankan bowlers make a sudden comeback. Murali Vijay lost his wicket to Lakshan Sandakan on 155. Ajinkya Rahane couldn’t get rid of his poor form and again returned to the pavilion early after scoring a mere 1 run. On day 2, Virat Kohli (156) and Rohit Sharma (6) will resume the Indian inning from 371/4.
Team News:
Shikhar Dhawan has replaced KL Rahul in the side for the third Test. Dhawan being a local boy knows the pitch well than the Karnataka batsman. Murali Vijay seems to have cemented his place with a century in the Nagpur Test. Ishant Sharma has been included in the playing XI. On the other hand, Umesh Yadav has been rested and Mohammad Shami has been picked up. Ishant is a local boy too and has played a number of Ranji Trophy matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.
Sri Lanka have had bad news coming their way after the Nagpur Test as their players Rangana Herath and Lahiru Thirimanne will have to sit out the Delhi Test due to injury. Dinesh Chandimal called in Jeffrey Vandersey as his replacement. Without Thirimanne, Sri Lanka’s batting lineup looks even weaker as they have not been able to post a big score of late.
Squads:
India: Lokesh Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Vijay Shankar, Shikhar Dhawan
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Sri Lanka: Sadeera Samarawickrama, Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal(c), Niroshan Dickwella(w), Dasun Shanaka, Dilruwan Perera, Jeffrey Vandersay, Suranga Lakmal, Lahiru Gamage, Dhananjaya de Silva, Lakshan Sandakan, Vishwa Fernando, Roshen Silva
