Sri Lanka were struggling at 8 for two at tea on the fifth and final day of the opening cricket Test against India at the Eden Gardens on Monday
The opening Test of the three-match series between India and Sri Lanka ended in a dramatic draw after the fifth day's play was stopped early due to bad light at the Eden Gardens on Monday.
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Resuming Tuesday's score of 171-1, skipper Virat Kohli smashed a brilliant knock of 104, including 12 boundaries and six fifties, off just 119 deliveries to help India post a respectable second-innings score of 352-8 declared.
India's captain Virat Kohli plays a shot during the final day of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens cricket stadium in Kolkata on November 20, 2017. Pic/AFP
It was Kohli's 18th Test hundred and 50th international century. He surpassed Dilip Vengsarkar (17) in the list of maximum centuries in the longest format of the game, but is still behind Mohammed Azharuddin (22), Virender Sehwag (23), Sunil Gavaskar (34), Rahul Dravid (36) and Tendulkar (51).
By scoring his 50th century, he is now the joint fastest to reach the milestone in terms of innings played, along with South Africa's Hashim Amla (348 innings).India lost their first wicket with an addition of 21 runs as Lokesh Rahul (79) once again failed to convert his fifty. Wickets kept falling thereafter with Suranga Lakmal (3/93) and Dasun Shanaka (3/76) returning with three wickets each.
Kohli, whose previous best at Eden Gardens was 45, also survived an LBW dismissal on 72 off Lakmal. After being circumspect against Lakmal, the Indian skipper slowly got into his groove and hammered him for a six with an inside-out shot to get into the 90s.
Looking unperturbed, Kohli once again took on the Lankan pace spearhead with a horizontal six over cover to get to his hundred in style.
Meanwhile, right-handed batsman Cheteshwar Pujara added yet another feather to his cap as he became only the third Indian cricketer to bat on all five days of a Test match when he resumed the match on Day 5 alongside opener KL Rahul.
He had joined KL Rahul at the crease yesterday when Shikhar Dhawan departed after smashing a scorching knock of 94 off 116 deliveries.
Pujara, however, failed to replicate his first-innings fireworks and went back to pavillion after scoring just 22. Rahul, who was dismissed for a duck in the first innings, finished with a brilliant 79-run knock.
Earlier, Lanka posted a first innings score of 294 in reply to India's lowly total of 172 after bad light and rain played the spoilsport and forced to call off the opening Test two days early.
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