India elect to bat against Sri Lanka in opening Test

Hardik Pandya later on got to his maiden half century on debut. However, skipper Virat Kohli was dismissed for three. While Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav are going to take care of fast bowling, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja are going to take care of spin bowling. But midway through the eighth over Pradeep produced one of the very few deliveries in the day that deviated off the track, as Mukund nicked off cheaply in the battle of number three opener. Abhinav Mukund’s bad run continues with the Tamil Nadu batsman failing to deliver again.

Five overs later, Mukund pull off a stunner at the same position, taking a one-handed catch to send Niroshan Dickwella packing.

Indian batsmen Shikhar Dhawan, right, and Cheteshwar Pujara shared a third wicket stand of 253 against Sri Lanka. Today they bowled more on the leg-side and I am a good sweeper when it comes there. Dhawan is in splendid touch.

Shami hit Rangana Herath for three sixes while Pandya lofted Pradeep for as many sixes in an attacking batting display by India’s lower order batsmen.

Looking ahead to his 50th since his debut in 2011 against the West Indies, Ashwin said Sri Lanka would always be special after he resurrected his career there in 2015.

India’s opening lineup looked a bit unfamiliar for the longer version of the game, with the likes of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay missing.

Asela Gunaratne will not play any further part in the first Test against India after breaking his left thumb on the opening day at Galle International Stadium on Wednesday (July 26). Dhawan was nowhere close to coming back to the Indian Test team.

A sweep for four took Dhawan to three figures, nearly two years after his previous Test century at the same venue, and Pujara continued to show great timing as he eased to 50. But Cheteshwar Pujara and Dhawan went about their business in meticulous fashion, milking the Sri Lankan bowlers for singles and doubles at will. The southpaw has now flown into his 90s. Abhinav flicked the ball to the keeper, and when the bails came off, Tharanga’s bat, after a momentary grounding on the dive, had bounced up.

Only one over remained for the tea break and hard-earned respite from the blazing sun that bathed the Galle Cricket Ground. Except for the edge that he gave on to Gunaratne while playing on 32. Shikhar Dhawan, who was in good touch, departed for 190, just before tea.

Stumps on Day 1, India post 399/3 (90.0 Ovs) Pujara 144*, Rahane 39*, Pradeep 3/64. On many occasions, it looked like the game is drifting away from them, as the Indians were accumulating runs quite freely. Dhawan has been a dominant force up till now. The real beast in Dhawan emerged in the second session. The pair has left Lankan bowlers clueless of their line. Sri Lankan’s have fell prey to mighty Dhawan who is not letting them settle in at all. Nuwan Pradeep picked his and India’s fourth wicket as Cheteshwar Pujara was caught behind the wicket on 153.