These days the Sri Lankan cricket team are not the same force like few years ago. Thus, the two-match Test series, beginning at the PCA Stadium today, is not as high profile as it would have been in the past, or had the opponents been Australia, England or South Africa. It will be remembered mostly for being Rohit Sharma’s first Test as captain and Virat Kohli’s 100th Test, and it is up to the master batsmen to make it memorable. For Rohit to start with a win, while for Kohli to become the first Indian to score a century in the landmark Test. There have been nine instances of batsmen scoring a century in their 100th game. Joe Root was the last to do so and the first to hammer a double century in his milestone game against India at Chennai a year ago.

Kohli, who used to score centuries regularly, has gone without one in the last two years. His last international hundred came against Bangladesh in the day-night Test in Kolkata in November 2019. Since then, fans have been waiting for him to end the drought and nothing can be more joyous than getting one on this special occasion.