India v/s Sri Lanka: First Test match, Day 1: Dhawan, Kohli's 100 run partnership propels India to a good total at Stumps, Day 1
This is Virat Kohli's chance to win a test series under his captaincy! Angelo Matthews is confident that they can make Kumar Sangakkara's farewell memorable by winning the series.
Hello and welcome to the live coverage of India versus Sri Lanka 1st test match at Galle, Sri Lanka. Comparatively young teams, from both the sides, will step into Galle International Stadium to prove that they are worthy of being among the big boys.
The only thing that might hurt the chances of these players is the weather at Galle, which is according to the weather reports does not look promising. According to weather.com there are 80% chances of rain with thunder! Well, Indian subcontinent is a poor choice when it comes to playing cricket in monsoon.
With Murali Vijay ruled out of the first Test owing to a troublesome right hamstring since the Zimbabwe tour, Kohli will have his task cut out to bring in the young Lokesh Rahul into the playing eleven. On the other hand, the Sri Lankan Test captain, Angelo Mathews is confident that they can make Kumar Sangakkara's farewell memorable by winning the series.
The teams are -
Sri Lanka - AD Mathews (c), HDRL Thirimanne, PVD Chameera, LD Chandimal (wk), N Pradeep, MVT Fernando, HMRKB Herath, FDM Karunaratne, PHT Kaushal, J Mubarak, MDK Perera, MDKJ Perera, KTGD Prasad, KC Sangakkara, JK Silva†, WU Tharanga
India - V Kohli (c), VR Aaron, R Ashwin, S Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, B Kumar, A Mishra, CA Pujara, AM Rahane, KL Rahul, WP Saha (wk), I Sharma, RG Sharma, M Vijay, UT Yadav
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STUMPS, DAY 1. That's it for the day. Good knocks from Shikhar Dahwan- 53(103b) and Virat Kohli-45(77b) make sure India are poised to post a good total. After early wickets of Lokesh Rahul and Rohit Sharma, the duo built a 100-run partnership to resurrect. At Stumps, Day 1- India finish at 128-2.
Fifty for Dhawan! Good knock from the Delhi boy under pressure. Though he lost both his partners, Dhawan kept his cool and played a good innings. Shikhar Dhawan 50(92b) and Virat Kohli 40(68b)
At the end of 23 overs, India are 89-2. After losing early wickets of Lokesh Rahul and Rohit Sharma, the new pair of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawn are looking composed. Dhawan batting on 41(71b) and Kohli on 24(43b)
WICKET! Early breakthrough for the Lankans. Lokesh Rahul is caught lbw by Dhammika Prasad. Not a start that the youngster wanted, and certainly not the start India wanted. Rohit Sharma walks down at number two. India are 14-1 after 3.1 overs.KL Rahul lbw b Prasad 7 (7b)
So the Indian batting pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Lokesh Rahul have come to open the innings. R Ashwin was the headline of today's match after his impressive figures of 6-46. India will look to post a good total to gain a good lead over the hosts. Dhammika Prasad to begin the proceedings.
R Ashwin has nicely wrapped up Sri Lankan batting order even before tea-time. His sixth wicket of the day is R Herath. Herath tried to sweep the ball but instead ended up missing the delivery.
Result? Bells fell off and now India has target of 184 runs.
The pitch was considered to be good for batting. The way Indian bowlers have abused the pitch, I hope Indian batsmen will not fall prey and lose quick wickets. Opening slots for Indian team are anyway like a game of musical chair!
OUT!!
Amit Mishra too finally gets lucky. That too on a very important wicket of Dinesh Chandimal
He took out the potentially dangerous Chandimal at the hands of Ajinkya Rahane. Chandimal miss read it and expected the ball to hit at midwicket, but the ball spun and gave away an easy catch.
As I am finishing writing this, Amit Mishra strikes again, (inspired by Ashwin, are we?). New man Kaushal did not stand a chance in front of Mishra's googly. The ball took the inside edge and went to short leg in the hands of Rohit Sharma.
With this speed, India might wrap up the first inning for Sri Lanka by tea time!
There was a bit of scare for Herath when Kohli hit the stumps at Ashwin's end. Looked a very tight replay. But Herath managed to get some part of his bat beofre the ball struck.
After 45 overs, Sri Lanka are at 161/7
OUT!!
Ashwin completes his 11th haul of five-wickets in test cricket. Dhammika Prasad is the victim here. He is back to pavilion without scoring a run. Herath has come out to replace him.
On the other end, Chandimal scores his fifty in a full delivery to the deep cover boundary. Varun Aaron is running short on luck because most catches are dropped on his bowling.
44th over proves lucky for Ashwin
OUT!!
It looked like Mathews and Chandimal had a good partnership. They garnered over 70 runs!
But the decision to bring back Ashwin has paid off. He takes his 4th wicket of the day and gets Angelo Mathews (64) out of the way. Rohit Sharma took one handed catch at short leg.
Six!
Angelo Mathews hits it big to complete his 22nd test fifty. He easily lifted the flighted ball by Harbhajan Singh to send it over the rope.
Wriddhiman Saha on the other hand keeps dropping catches, breathing life in Chandimal's innings.
Might prove expensive!
More than 30 overs later team Sri Lanka puts 100 runs on scoreboard. Angelo Mathews is 5 runs shy of scoring a half-century himself.
Virat Kohli's strategy of playing five bowlers seems to be paying off.
After the exciting first season, we feel one more wicket is needed just to thank the sunshine for finally deciding to show up!
Looks like Twitter too is enjoying -
25 overs and Angelo Mathews continues his one man battle against India. While the Indian side looks to be slagging a little. Sri Lanka at 78/5.
And we are back!
Harbhajan Singh starts the second session for India. Looks like Indian bowlers are inspired by what Stuart Broad and James Anderson did for England at Trent Bridge.
Will the wicket taking streak continue in second session?
At lunch, Sri Lanka are at 65/5 in 23 overs. After Quickly losing their openers to the Indian fast bowlers, skipper Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne tried to put up some fight. But right after taking the essential wicket of Kumar Sangakkara, he broke that partnership of 37 runs.
Weather hasn't played spoilsport so far. Only the slight issue of sighscreen pops up every now and then given the wind and prediction of a thunderstorm.
The current thunderstorm is Indian bowling in Galle International Stadium. We hope it continues after the lunch. What are you munching on?
OUT!!
Another brilliant delivery by R Ashwin!
This time Ajinkya Rahane takes a superb low catch of Thirimanne in the slip. Thirimanne out on 13 runs and Sri Lanka stands at 54/4 as the partnership of 27 runs ends.
Jehan Mubarak to hold the strike with Angelo Mathews. Amit Mishra to bowl.
Are we finishing the innings before tea? Also, what's up with so many bearded players on Indian side?
After 15 overs, looks like has strong hold on the match and they are proving Jonty Rhodes wrong. Indian bowlers have made it one good day for bowling.
Sri Lanka at 40/3 as Thirimane and Mathews try to put more runs on the scoreboard.
OUT!!
Virat Kohli is banking on his spinner after observing how Yasir Shah had bowled on Lankan pitch. And his spinners are not letting him down. R Ashwin took charge from Ishant Sharma and his first wicket of the day is of mighty Kumar Sangakkara! Showing amazing reflexes at silly point KL Rahul caught the ball.
After 10 overs, Sri Lanka has lost their openers to India's fast bowlers. Kumar Sangakkara (5) and Lahiru Thirimanne (3) on the pitch. Looks like every other match between India and Sri Lanka where Sangakkara and Mathews will save the day for the Lankan side. Deja vu, anyone?
OUT!!
The opening pair is sent packing rather quickly! This time Shikhar Dhawan take the catch as Kaushal Silva falls prey to Varun Aaron's short ball.
Thirimane came at third place to replace Karunaratne instead of Sangakkara. And now the crowds welcome Kumar Sangakkara with firecrackers.
OUT!!
Ajinkya Rahane takes Karunaratne's catch in a short ball by Ishant Sharma. Uncomfortable Karunaratne takes the bouncer on shoulder of the bat and the ball lands in the hands of Rahane at gully.
After five overs, we can see that Kaushal Silva is turning every mistake made by Indian bowlers in his favour. The dropped catch by Shikhar Dhawan in the third over might prove expensive for India. Karunaratne on the other hand is slowly keeping the scoreboard moving.
The score is Sri Lanka at 14 runs for no loss. Karunaratne (8) Silva (5) hold the fort against Varun Aaron and Ishant Sharma.
Here we go...
Just like we said, the weather will not make it easy to play for either teams. There is a slight delay due to some problem with the sightscreen.
Ishant Sharma to start the game for day one of India vs Sri Lanka Test match in Galle International Stadium. Three slips and a gully are in place for Ishant. For Sri Lanka, D Karunaratne will take the strike with Kaushal Silva on the other end.
Sri Lanka win the toss and skipper Angelo Mathews chose to bat. A rather good decision given the dry pitch of Galle stadium. According to Jonty Rhodes, best time is to bat on day one. Mathews is looking to take advantage of the dry pitch and put pressure on India. On the other hand Indian captain Virat Kohli is banking on his spinners.
Sri Lankan openers will start against the five-bowler attack from India.