Rishabh Pant starred with the bat on the first day of the first Test of the three-match series against Sri Lanka, in Mohali.
The game marked the first match as Test captain for Rohit Sharma. But, inevitably, much of the focus was on the man he succeeded, Virat Kohli, who is playing in his 100th Test match.
Kohli joined a select band of former Indian greats, including luminaries like Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Anil Kumble, in reaching the 100 test mark. His fans will hope that, having shed the burden of captaincy, he can rediscover the form that made him the top-ranked batter in the world in all forms of the game.
Rohit’s first job as skipper was to win the toss and decide to bat on a pitch that is expected to turn later. He opened the innings with Mayank Agarwal and made a fluent start, scoring 29 off 28 balls, including six fours. Then he was suckered into one pull shot too many against fast bowler Lahiru Kumara, and only succeeded in giving a catch to Suranga Lakmal at fine leg.
That brought Hanuma Vihari, batting higher up the order than usual in his 100th First-class match, to the middle to join Agarwal, and the scoring rate dropped.
The pair added 28 before left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya, who had troubled the Indian pair with change of pace, had Agarwal trapped in front of his stumps for 33.
That meant Kohli came to the crease earlier than he might have anticipated. There were no more alarms as India reached lunch at 109/2.
The afternoon session saw Vihari and Kohli look to build on the platform created as India began to assert control.
Vihari took the single that brought up his 50. He pressed on, looking for a big score to cement his place in the team.
The pair added 90 for the third wicket when, almost out of the blue, a wicket fell. Having changed ends, Embuldeniya bowled Kohli for 45, an innings that included five fours.
Shortly afterwards, Vihari joined him in the pavilion, bowled by Vishwa Fernando for 58. He had faced 128 balls and hit five fours.
Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer consolidated, and the teams went to tea at 199/4, with Sri Lanka back in the match.
They continued after tea making relatively untroubled progress, until Dhananjaya de Silva came into the attack. De Silva struck first ball, getting a fuller ball to turn and trap Iyer leg before for 27. Iyer reviewed but the decision stood.
Not for the first time, it was left to Pant to carry the fight to the opposition. He began slowly, but then picked up pace, and decided to go after the bowling of Embuldeniya, striking four sixes and nine fours. During a phase, Pant got 42 runs in 13 balls.
His partnership for the sixth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja was worth 104. Then Sri Lanka decided to take the new ball, which yielded immediate dividends when Pant was bowled by Lakmal four short of his century. He received a standing ovation as he left the crease.
Jadeja (45*) and R. Ashwin (10*) saw out the rest of the day as India closed on 357/6.
India 357/6 (Rishabh Pant 96; Lasith Embuldeniya 2-107) vs Sri Lanka.