Virat Kohli scored 45 runs off 76 balls, with the help of 5 sublime boundaries, in the first innings of his landmark 100th Test match, against Sri Lanka in Mohali. Kohli was presented with a special cap ahead of the day’s play by head coach Rahul Dravid.
He did record one milestone today: with his 38th run, Kohli has reached 8000 Test runs, the 14th-fastest overall in terms of innings played.
Fans had been expecting Kohli to break his century drought – his last one came in November 2019 – in his historic 100th Test. However, the former India captain couldn’t go past 45: he was bowled by a beautiful delivery from Lasith Embuldeniya.
It was also, though, a rare mistake from Kohli in the knock during which he had looked on song after a shaky start: he went on the backfoot to play a full ball, the kind of which he had been playing on the front foot in this innings until the dismissal. He covered for the line, but the ball turned slightly, went past Kohli’s outside edge, but brushed the outside of the off-stump, ending the batter’s stay and silenced the noisy crowd that had been cheering even on Kohli’s singles.
Rohit Sharma, captaining for the first time in Test cricket, was distraught with Kohli’s dismissal, just 5 runs short of a half-century. Standing up, Rohit had his hands over his head as soon as Embuldeniya bowled Kohli.
Here, watch Rohit Sharma’s reaction on Kohli’s dismissal:
Rohit Sharma’s reaction on Virat Kohli’s wicket says it allpic.twitter.com/EvMqzhOSW6
— Cricket Holic (@theCricketHolic) March 4, 2022
It showed Rohit knew the value of Kohli’s wicket and had been hoping for the former skipper to continue batting and put up a big score. However, that wasn’t meant to be today.
India were in a pickle at the score of 228-5. However, Rishabh Pant’s assault over the Lankan spinners – Embuldeniya, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka – ensured that India ended Day 1 in a commanding position at 357/6, however, Pant missed his century by 4 runs.
