Kohli hits double, Lanka in trouble

Nagpur, November 27: “Ah, I feel I’ve bowled the whole day!“ said Rumesh Ratnayake, the former Sri Lanka pace bowler, after the third day’s play in the second Test.Ratnayake, 53, last bowled in a Test match 25 years ago. But his team endured 78.1 overs of torture today, and he could feel the pain — India’s batsmen toyed with Sri Lanka’s bowling, spanking 298 runs in those 78.1 overs, at 3.82 an over. Virat Kohli got a second consecutive century, and made it a double; Rohit Sharma got a Test 100 after four years and 34 innings. India declared at 610/6, four men getting 100s, for a lead of 405. Back on the field after two days of fielding, Sri Lanka lost opener Sadeera Samarawickrama on the second ball of the innings and closed the day at 21/1 in 9 overs.Sri Lanka have lost 28 wickets for 595 runs so far in this series; the remaining batsmen must survive at least the next one-and-a-half days if they are to leave Nagpur undefeated. Their fans here — all two of them — and their mediamen — another two — don’t seem to be too confident about their team’s abilities. Ratnayake too didn’t exude confidence, though it must be said that this wicket is still a featherbed, the ball isn’t misbehaving, and survival isn’t impossible.Bat like PujaraTo survive, Sri Lanka must bat like Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay. Pujara batted for 8 hours, 22 minutes; Vijay batted 5 hours, 11 minutes; Kohli batted 6 hours, 27 minutes. These numbers highlight something very significant — even a supreme strokemaker such as Kohli must last on the wicket for hours and hours on the end if he is to get the runs. India’s four centurions played 1,391 balls among them; the whole of the Sri Lankan team played 476 balls in their first innings. Selecting the time to defend or attack is an art that makes cricketers great. Sri Lanka’s batsmen need to learn quickly to bat time, tire the bowlers, then cash in.India on rollPujara, starting the day on 121, did just that; Kohli, who resumed on 54, didn’t need to do that and started  chasing the runs early in the day. Pujara played a maiden to begin with, to Lahiru Gamage, while Kohli got a single first ball and a four second ball. There was a period of lull, but Kohli continued to run hard, moving from 59 to 78 by running singles and doubles. The Sri Lankans, unsure whether to save fours or singles, were left chasing shadows. Then Kohli hit two fours for 12 off an over from Suranga Lakmal, moving to 90, and more strenuous running took him to his second 100 in two innings. The 100 in Kolkata was spectacular as he hit some outrageous shots, but he got to his 100 here almost imperceptibly.Pujara, meanwhile, was bowled for 143 by Dasun Shanaka, whose yorker was accurate, and Pujara’s defence was tired and a bit too late. Ajinkya Rahane fell soon after lunch, chopping Dilruwan Perera right into the hands of Karunaratne at point. Rahane’s 2 was one of the three single-digit scores by India’s top-seven — the other four got past 100 rather easily.Fourth 100Kohli and Rohit carried on, regardless. There was a certain inevitability about Kohli getting to his 200, his fifth double century as captain, which equals the record of Brian Lara. Kohli continued to have fun as he moved from 100 to 200 in 129 balls, one ball faster than his first 100, striking two sixers off Perera. The second six was classic Kohli, a drive across the line with a powerful flick of the wrists, taking the ball from outside off to the boundary behind widish long-on. Rohit, who got 100s in his first two innings in Test cricket, had 34 innings after that in which he got seven 50s but no 100s.Rohit last played a Test back in October last year; that was also his most recent first class match. The master of the shorter formats has been out of action in the longer formats for over 13 months. Today was possibly the easiest Test 100 to be had for any batsman, even if they claim that no 100s are easy in Test cricket.Kohli declared the innings soon after Rohit reached his 100, and the inquisition of Sri Lanka’s batsmen began resumed. Ratnayake said that the batsmen are learning by playing against India, the world’s No. 1 team, frequently. If they can last the next two days, or at least all of tomorrow, they’ll have proven that they’ve indeed learnt important lessons.Numbers gameVirat Kohli’s average as captain is the highest among Indian skippers with at least 500 runs — his tally being 2877 (ave.63.93) in 31 TestsWith 12 hundreds out of 16 50-plus knocks as captain, Kohli’s conversion rate of 75 per cent is the highest among the captains with 10 or more centuries.Cheteshwar Pujara completed 3,000 runs at home. He’s the fastest to this landmark.ScoreboardSri Lanka Ist inngs 205India 1st inngs (Overnight 312/2)KL Rahul b Gamage 7M Vijay c D Perera b Herath 128C Pujarab Shanaka 143V Kohli c Karunaratne b D Perera 213A  Rahanec Karunaratne b D Perera 2R Sharma  not out 102R Ashwinb D Perera 5W Saha  not out 1Extras: (B-4 LB-4 W-1) 9Total: (for 6 wkts decl, 176.1 overs) 610FOW: 1-7, 2-216, 3-399, 4-410, 5-583, 6-597 BowlingSuranga Lakmal 29 – 2 – 111 – 0Lahiru Gamage 35 – 8 – 97 – 1Rangana Herath 39 – 11 – 81 – 1Dasun Shanaka 26.1 – 4 – 103 – 1Dilruwan Perera 45 – 2 – 202 – 3Dimuth Karunaratne 2 – 0 – 8 – 0Sri Lanka 2nd inngsS Samarawickrama b Sharma 0D Karunaratne  not out 11L Thirimanne  not out 9Extras: (LB-1) 1Total: (for 1 wickets, 9 overs) 21FOW: 1-0BowlingIshant Sharma 4-1-15-1R  Ashwin 4-3-5-0R Jadeja 1-1-0-0

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