Mohali : India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first in the first Test against Sri Lanka here on Friday. India are playing three spinners Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja and two seamers Mohammad Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, while Sri Lanka have gone in with just one specialist spinner.
Mayank Agarwal has retained his place and is going to open with Rohit and Hanuma Vihari will bat at No. 3, which was manned by Cheteshwar Pujara for many years. Shreyas Iyer also has kept his place after his fantastic debut in Kanpur against New Zealand where he scored a century. Focus is also on Virat Kohli who is playing his 100th Test match. He has been Test cricket’s biggest cheerleader for a while.
Mohali is where it all started for him in a way and now he returns here as part of Rohit’s team. It is time to shine the spotlight on Kohli-the-player, who has not got big scores under his belt in recent times. The team, of course, needs Kohli more than ever, especially in the absence of Ajinkya Rahane and Pujara. Without them, India are vulnerable in the middle order, but it is time for India to look ahead and try to find solutions with some new faces onboard. Because of this, this series will make scribes to script a new era.
The Test is also set to feature Jasprit Bumrah’s vice-captaincy and Mohammed Siraj’s persistence. Teams India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Suranga Lakmal, Vishwa Fernando, Lasith Embuldeniya, Lahiru Kumara.