After winning the toss and deciding to bat first, India started aggressively but lost two wickets in the first session. Despite that, Hanuma Vihari and Virat Kohli steadied the ship for India with their 90-run partnership. But a ripper from Lasith Embuldeniya cleaned up Kohli and instead of Shreyas Iyer, who was slotted to come in at number five, it was wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who came out to bat.
Rishabh Pant was promoted to number five ahead of Shreyas Iyer. There could be two main reasons behind this move. First, Embuldeniya being a left-arm orthodox bowler was taking the ball away from the right-handed batters. With him bowling round the wicket, his bowling angle not only threatened the outside edge but also the inside and the batter’s pads, with an odd one keeping straight. Pant being a left-hander, worked out very well for India with the ball predominantly turning into him, thereby reducing the chances of the outside edge or getting opened up.
Pant has an outstanding record against the left-arm orthodox bowlers. Before this game, he had scored 181 runs against them off just 147 balls, with only one dismissal. Striking at 123.1, he also had a dot ball percentage of 51%, which means that not only can he be a counterattacking option against them, he can also unsettle the bowler’s and the opposition team’s rhythm by frequently rotating the strike.
Another reason for sending in Pant ahead of Iyer could be his recent Test form. Despite Iyer scoring a century on his debut against New Zealand and having a good start to his Test career, he wasn’t a part of the Indian XI against South Africa in India’s last Test assignment. Pant, on the other hand, scored an unbeaten 100 in his last Test innings, so was the man in Test form.
At 357-6, India are in firm control of this match. Apart from key individual innings for India from the likes of Vihari, Kohli, and Pant, India were greatly helped by some of the tactics from Sri Lanka. Initially, their bowlers lacked control and weren’t consistent in their lines and lengths. They were guilty of not being patient enough in their plans and tried to force the game. Their erratic line resulted in boundaries being scored on both sides of the wicket.
Dimuth Karunaratne, the Sri Lankan captain, was partly guilty of letting India off the hook, as there was always an easy single available to score. It is evident from the fact that there were only six maidens bowled by the Lankan bowlers in the entire day.
Another controllable factor that didn’t work out in Sri Lanka’s favor was their indiscipline with the No-Balls. They were guilty of bowling nine No-Balls. It might not impact a Test match like the shorter formats, but it shows the lack of rhythm the Lankan bowlers had.
With India already six wickets down, Sri Lanka need to take the time to reflect on how they allowed the day’s game to drift away and come back on Day 2 with better plans to restrict India from getting an out-of-hand score.