Dhawan & Pujara Tons Put India Firmly Ahead on Day 1

What an action packed first day of this series we are having so far. As I type this out, India are only 3 wickets down in the 3rd session and have already put up a commanding 1st innings total, thanks to a certain Shikhar Dhawan, who we in India lovingly refer to as the ‘Gabbar’.

Shikhar made his debut in 2013 where he smashed 187 against a good Australia attack and also recorded the fastest century by a test player on debut. India had a lot of hopes from him but since then, he’s only managed to play 23 tests for India due to inconsistency.

Earlier today, we saw him play a magnificent innings, which would’ve reminded all Shikhar Dhawan fans of his debut and what he is indeed capable of doing. He was aggressive from the start but played sensible strokes as he got to his 5th test century in the 2nd session. There wasn’t much of a celebration as he wasn’t stopping at 100.

He took off his helmet to the spinners and started playing strokes to all parts of the ground as India were scoring at over 5 runs an over. He reached 100 in 110 balls and ended his innings at 190 from 168 balls, taking just 58 balls to get those 90 runs after his hundred.

However, Sri Lanka got the much needed breakthrough, getting Shikhar for 190 and ending a 253-run stand between Dhawan & Pujara. Pujara himself wasn’t holding back, scoring at a much quicker rate than you generally expect from him.

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In the final session, Pujara hit a couple of boundaries and then a double to get to his 12th test century. There wasn’t much of a celebration from him either as he knows the Sri Lanka bowling attack is a tiring one and he’s in with a good chance to make a big score here.

Sri Lanka already had their share of problems and it only got worse in the morning session as Asela Gunaratne dropped Dhawan very early on in the morning session. Dhawan certainly made them pay and Gunaratne also ended up being ruled out of the test match with a broken thumb.

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