Nagpur: Skipper Virat Kohli (213, 267b, 17×4, 2×6) battered a lackadaisical Sri Lanka attack into submission with his fifth double hundred as India piled up a gigantic 610/6 before declaring their first innings on the third day here to take command of the proceedings. Giving him good company on the day was Rohit Sharma (102 n o, 160b, 8×4, 1×6) who got his third Test ton. At stumps, Sri Lanka were down in the dumps at 21 for one with another 384 runs required to avoid innings defeat.
Kohli’s brute power combined with Rohit’s lazy elegance made it a head cocktail of entertainment for the Sunday crowd, who were thrilled to bits whenever the Indian skipper reached a milestone and there were quite a few on the way. The two put on 173 runs for the fifth wicket to completely outbat the visitors from out of the game.
The Sri Lankan bowlers never looked good enough to dismiss Kohli and it required a mistimed shot to see the back of the Indian captain, who got a standing ovation from the 12,000-plus present at the VCA Stadium.
It was an abject humiliation for the Sri Lanka attack as Kohli picked singles and doubles at will after field was completely spread. Out of 213 runs, Kohli ran 133 runs in ones, twos and threes primarily because of the spread out field to save the boundaries.
Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara (143, 362b, 14×4) started day three proceedings on a confident note, before Dasun Shanaka castled the Saurashtra batsman with the former being a tad late to come down on Yorker-length delivery. Ajinkya Rahane’s (2) wretched form continued as he hit off-spinner Dilruwan Perera’s (3/202) down the throat of point. But then after that the agony intensified for the visitors.
To be frank, the Sri Lankan bowlers did not show the gumption to fight it out. All that they did was try and restrict the flow of runs. But then when there are two stroke-makers like Kohli and Rohit in the middle, stoping runs is a tall order. And that is exactly what happened and the game slipped out Lankan’s grasp.
Press trust of India