Kolkata: Virat Kohli struck his 18th Test century as India almost pulled of one it’s memorable Test victories over Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens on Monday.
The Indians didn’t have a great beginning to the fifth day as they lost some quick wickets in the form of KL Rahul (79), Cheteshwar Pujara (22) and Ajinkya Rahane (0) but skipper Kohli’s presence at the middle ensured that India were on the right track.
The 29-year-old, after bagging a duck in the first innings roared back to form with a stylish century (104 n.o) of just 119 balls with 12 fours and two sixes and thus he climbed up the ladder to be the second on the list of most international centuries with 50 to his name. The prolific right-hander now stands just behind the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
He also equalled Hashim Amla’s feat of the no.of innings taken to reach to 50 international hundreds (348). Also, this was his 11th Test hundred as captain, equalling the iconic Sunil Gavaskar’s feat.
India successfully posted 352/8 on the board with Sri Lanka needing 230 runs to win the game. The bowlers too began with fire as they reduced the visitors to 22/4 at one stage. Sensing a win, the Indians further went for the kill and achieved further success when they had Sri Lanka at 75/7 but the match eventually ended in a draw much to the disappointment of the Indian crowd at the Eden Gardens.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar once again performed brilliantly with the ball as he again scalped four wickets and was well supported by Shami who got two and Umesh Yadav one. This was also the first instance when the Indian spinners didn’t get any wicket out of the seventeen to fall in the match.
Brief scores-
India 172 all out and 352/8 (Virat Kohli 104 n.o, Shikhar Dhawan 94; Dasun Shanaka 3/76) drew with Sri Lanka 294 all out and 75/7 (Niroshan Dickwella 27, Dinesh Chandimal 20; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4/8)