Shreyas Iyer played a valiant knock of 92 off 98, including 10 fours and 4 sixes, as India finished on 252 in 59.1 overs on the 1st day of the pink ball test.
The pitch on Chinnaswamy had it all for both the pace and spin bowlers. In the first session itself, the ball started turning, and the odd one kept extremely low to surprise the batters out. As many as 16 wickets fell on the first day as Sri Lanka finished on 86-6 in 30 overs at the stumps. In the day/night test history, this became the first instance when 16 dismissals took place on the 1st day.
At the toss:
Earlier in the day, India won the toss and opted to bat first to put scoreboard pressure on the opposition. Both the captains revealed their playing XI and announced one change each. For India, Axar Patel came in place of Jayant Yadav, and Praveen Jayawickrama played instead of an injured Lahiru Kumara.
Playing XI:
India: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma (c), Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama
The dynamic approach of Shreyas Iyer:
As India kept losing wickets at regular intervals due to the deadly nature of the pitch, the duo of Iyer and Rishabh Pant showcased a dynamic approach and took on the Sri Lankan spinners head-on. Pant scored 39 at a strike rate of 150, and Iyer smashed 4 massive sixes in his 92 off 98. No other batter seemed comfortable against the Sri Lankan bowling line-up. Embuldeniya and Jayawickrama both took 3 wickets each to restrict India at 252.
Shami and Bumrah wreak havoc:
Post dinner break Sri Lanka came on to bat and found themselves heavily struggling against the pace duo of Shami and Bumrah. Bumrah accounted for 3 Sri Lankan batters while Shami scalped 2 wickets at night. Angelo Mathews top-scored for Sri Lanka with 43 off 85. Dickwella and Embuldeniya are at the crease as the play for the day was ceased.
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