India Dominates, Rahane Scores Ton

The Indian Cricket Team made the most of their opportunity against the Sri Lankan Board President’s XI on day 1 of the practice game at Colombo. The visitors opened the batting and piled on 314 runs for the loss of 6 men on a testing and green wicket.

Shikar Dhawan and KL Rahul, who opened the innings ahead of Murali Vijay, put on a sturdy 128 runs for the opening wicket before the prolific Karnataka run getter fell on 43. Rohit Sharma, at number three, continues to be under the scanner as the right hander was dismissed cheaply yet again in the longer format of the game. Virat Kohli soon followed, thanks to a stellar spell from Lahiru Gamage to leave India in a spot of bother at 133/4, but a solid 134 run partnership between the player of the day Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara propelled India to dominance. A humble Rahane praised his partner, who today was only playing second fiddle.

“Pujara batted pretty well,” Rahane said. “He took his time and it is important to get one or two big partnerships in Test series because in one or two sessions, the game can change.” the Mumbaikar added.

Rahane himself played a top notch innings as he mixed caution with agression to reach a well deserved century.

“I wanted to play positive cricket,” Rahane said of his innings. “My intent has been positive through the last one to two years, wherever I have played. I wanted to continue with that same intent. In our batting unit, everyone’s intent is to look for runs.” he added.

The full scorecard at the end of the first day, courtesy of Cricbuzz is as follows: