Virat Kohli and Co. registered a massive win over the Lankans in the first Test of the 3-match series on July 29. They defeated Sri Lanka by 304 runs on the fourth day of the game and recorded their biggest victory ever in a Test away from home. Team India set a mammoth target of 550 runs for the hosts to chase after Virat Kohli knocked his 17th career century. The in-form Indian bowling line-up dented Sri Lanka’s batting order and clinched the game.
The Indian batsmen totally dominated the game and exhibited superb batting skills. Starting with Shikhar Dhawan (190) and Cheteshwar Pujara (153) and then Ajinkya Rahane (57), Hardik Pandya (50) who all helped to put a giant score of 600 in the first inning. While in the second, Abhinav Mukund finally spoke with the bat after a long time and Kohli knocked his 17 ton in Test matches.
Along with winning the game, the Indian men created a set of records during the game in Galle. Let’s have a look:
- Skipper Virat Kohli broke master blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s record of reaching 1000 runs as captain away from India. Sachin took 19 innings to achieve this feat while Kohli did the marvel in 17 only.
- Virat Kohli’s century in the 2nd innings is his maiden century in 3rd innings of a Test match.
- This was the third Test match win for Virat Kohli in Sri Lanka as captain, most by any visiting captain along with Ricky Ponting.
Apart from Virat Kohli’s records, here are some of the several benchmarks which Team India set at Galle:
- Ravi Chandran Ashwin marked his best figures in a Test inning. He took 3 wickets for 65 and beat his old figure of 3/69 against West Indies.
- A victory by 304 runs is their biggest Test win away from home. The previous best was by 279 runs vs England at Leeds in 1986.
- The target of 550 runs, the 2nd biggest target set by India in Test Cricket. First biggest target was 617 against New Zealand in 2009.
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