The value of a single was given primacy by Virat Kohli while cracking his fifth double century in the presence of a big holiday turnout at the VCA Stadium here on Sunday. He ran 102 singles, largely in the company of the other two century makers Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma, on way to a polished 213 made in a little over six and a half hours.
Ajinkya Rahane’s woes continued, but on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka the home team nearly doubled its overnight score to 610 for six wickets. Kohli applied the closure of the innings when Rohit punched medium-pacer Dasun Shanaka off the backfoot and announced his return to Test cricket after more than 13 months with a stroke-filled unconquered century.
For a significant period India’s innings, especially after the departure of Pujara before lunch, revolved around the terrific skills and attitude demonstrated by Kohli. He had extracted heavy penalty of the Sri Lankan attack previously with three centuries scored in reasonably quick time and moderate number of balls faced. But on Sunday, Kohli batted with a fixity of purpose to boost his team’s chances of heading to the Kotla Test next 1-0 up without batting for the second time here.
The stalemate after the Suranga Lakmal-shaped first innings skirmish at the Eden Gardens, had left the team somewhat disappointed. But given the opportunity by his bowlers on the first day here, when Sri Lanka was skittled out for a paltry score, Kohli and most of his leading batsmen rose to the occasion. In arrears by 405 runs, Sri Lanka in its second essay lost Sadeera Samarawickrama, not offering a shot to Ishant Sharma.
M. Vijay and Pujara had put India in a commanding position on the second day when they went after the Sri Lankan spinners in the last session. Pujara and Kohli — for a change in the first session on the third day — chose to play the waiting game (Kohli did not score off 132 balls), judge the behaviour of the pitch and play the ball on merit.
They sustained the run-rate at a little over three an over, with Pujara playing the ideal foil to his captain. It came as a surprise when Pujara put an end to his 502-minute tenure by playing all over a Shanaka delivery to be bowled. The stand produced 183 off 296 balls and it was in this phase that Sri Lanka flagged with the lead nearing 200 runs.
Rahane, who had a forgettable opening Test, did not score in the 10 minutes he was in the middle before lunch, struggled to find his feet after the break and was upset when he cut straight into the hands of point. However, with a successful outing in the away series in Sri Lanka there is no threat to his place in the Indian team for the South Africa tour; he’s also the vice-captain.
But his misfortune gave a chance for Rohit to play his natural game. His wide range of shots scattered the Sri Lankan bowlers to all parts of the field and once over the straight boundary.
He began with an exquisite drive to the fence in front of point and went on to hit seven more boundary shots and then lifted off-spinner Dilruwan Perera for two sixes.
The Kohli-Rohit combination saw India add 103 runs in the second session. Their stand was the most attractive in its compilation of 173 runs and eventually helped India take the lead by over 400 runs.
