India are playing a three-day warm-up game against the Sri Lanka Board President's XI at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka, which starts from 12 August. India ended with 314 for the loss of six wickets at the end of Day 1.
A gritty century from Ajinkya Rahane powered India to a a good-looking total against a rather inexperienced Sri Lanka Board President's XI led by Lahiru Thirimanne. India skipper Virat Kohli flopped again as he was dismissed for eight runs.
India lost the momentum that they had got from the two openers, Shikhar Dhawan and K L Rahul. Dhawan and Rahul added 108 runs in the first wicket. Dhawan went on to score his 27th first class half century but Rahul fell after 44.
India lost four wickets in a span of 25 runs just after lunch and they were struggling at 133 for the loss of four wickets. Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara steadied the Indian innings. They added 134 runs in tandem before Jeffrey Vandersay dismissed Pujara for a gritty 42.
India will be disappointed with the way their two-star batsmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli performed on the first day of the three-day warm up game. Kohli's form can be a concern in the forthcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. Sharma, on the other hand, has been inconsistent and was backed by Kohli to come in at no.3 position. But Sharma could only add seven runs to the total before heading towards the pavilion.
Wriddhiman Saha also fell after making just three runs. After India lost their sixth wicket, it was Ravichandran Ashwin and Rahane who continued the innings and took the score past 300 runs. Overall, India scored a good run rate throughout the day and it will be interesting to see how the Indian bowlers will bowl on Friday.
