Welcome to Sportstar‘s LIVE coverage of Day 1 of the second Test between India and Sri Lanka in Bengaluru.

India 70/2 in 24 overs: Vihari plays back to a delivery from Jayawickrama; the ball holds its line, coming in with the angle, and hits the pad. A huge shout for lbw, and it’s given out! Is it going down the leg side? Kohli suggests it is, and asks his partner to take the review. Yes, the umpire has to overturn his on-field verdict.

Another good over from Embuldeniya. One of the delivery stays low and Vihari would have likely been given out had the ball thudded into his pads. Instead, Vihari got bat on it.

India 63/2 in 19 overs: Kohli is nearly caught out! He closes the face of his bat too early as he tries to flick one to the leg side. It’s a leading edge to short cover, but the fielder just can’t dive in front on time to pouch the ball. Jayawickrama covers his face with his palms. What an opportunity.

Kohli grimaces after nearly being dismissed. Next delivery, he comes on to the front foot, gets to the pitch of the ball, and defends the ball text-book style.

Off Embuldeniya, he plays his trademark bottom-handed drive off an overpitched delivery for four runs. Jayawickrama is hit once again for four – Vihari paddle-sweeps him – but he’s gaining confidence now, not afraid to flight the ball.

India 46/2 in 15 overs: Kohli off the mark with a single to leg off Embuldeniya.

An expensive first over from Praveen Jayawickrama, who is also a left-arm spinner. One of the deliveries is a long hop and Vihari doesn’t waste the opportunity to score, pulling the ball hard to deep midwicket for his first boundary. It’s his first aggressive stroke, too.

Some more runs as Vihari sweeps to fine leg for a couple. And then he pulls again, this time for a single. After a quiet over from Embuldeniya, another expensive one from Jayawickrama.

Vihari gets a full delivery outside off and drives well to pick up four runs through extra cover. But Jayawickrama’s sharply-turning delivery to Kohli has him beaten! Kohli comes forward the defend, the ball spins past hist bat!

India 29/2 in 11 overs: Virat Kohli is the new batter, in his 101st Test. He carefully plays out the rest of the over from Embuldeniya. Meanwhile, Lakmal continues to peg away; Vihari plays out a maiden over.

Encore for Embuldeniya, and this time he gets the wicket! Another full delivery outside off-stump, Rohit is the batter this time. He comes forward to defend, gets the edge and the ball travels to the slip fielder. Out for 15, is India’s captain.

Rohit Sharma c de Silva b Embuldeniya 15 (25b, 1×4, 1×6)

Another probing over from Lakmal. Rohit gets a tempting full delivery on off-stump, but he just gently drives the ball for no run.

Excitement for Lasith Embuldeniya and for Sri Lanka. Hanuma Vihari edges as he comes forward to gently defend a full delivery but the ball falls short of the slip fielder, who dives to his right. An excellent over from the left-arm spinner.

Puff of dust is visible as Embuldeniya lands the ball. An encouraging sight for spinners. The pitch may crumble quickly. No wonder spin has been introduced as early as the eighth over.

India 24/1 in 7 overs: Rohit continues to be watchful against Lakmal.

Rohit indulges himself. He tucks into a short-of-a-length delivery from Fernando, pulling it for a six in front of square leg. What a shot!

Fernando bowling a leg-stump line from over the wicket to Rohit and Hanuma Vihari, the new batter. Five runs off the fourth over, including four runs off two flick shots.

India 12/1 in 3 overs: Lakmal has settled in on a good line and length as he tries to tease Rohit into playing away from his body.

 

And out! Mayank’s out cheaply as he tries to pinch a single and doesn’t find a response from his partner. Vishwa Fernando’s delivery pitches on a good length and hits Mayank on the pads – has it pitched outside leg-stump? Huge shout for lbw, and amidst all this, Mayank calls his partner for a run and runs three quarters to the other end. The fielder comes in from point and lobs the ball to the wicketkeeper, who clips off the bails.

Sri Lanka went for the review, for a possible lbw dismissal. But the third umpire says it’s a no-ball. So had Mayank not attempted that run, he would have been safe.

Mayank Agarwal run out (Jayawickrama) 4 (7b, 1×4)

Rohit clips the first delivery of the second over off his legs to pick up a boundary through square leg. What a start from the Indian openers.

 

Mayank lets the first delivery go through the keeper. It’s on good length, in the corridor. Gets an inside edge as he tries to defend one. No harm done. And a glorious drive for a boundary through extra cover. Overpitched, outside off, and its driven sweetly by Mayank to loud cheers from the near-capacity crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal are at the middle.

The Lankan fielders walk out to the field. A guard of honour for Suranga Lakmal who is playing his final international match for Sri Lanka.

India XI: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma(c), Hanuma Vihari, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah

Sri Lanka XI: Dimuth Karunaratne(c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama

Toss: India wins the toss, opts to bat first

TOSS TIME..

1-10PM IST: Our correspondent Ayan Acharya reports from the venue: Loudest cheers reserved for Virat Kohli as he enters the ground. Kohli acknowledges the support with a wave of the arm. Chants of “RCB, RCB” reverberate. Just across the stadium, RCB will announce their captain for IPL 2022 today. Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja taking throwdowns.

 

1-02PM IST: Hitman and Co. have arrived at the Chinnaswamy.

 

MATCH PREVIEW

A 2-0 whitewash would be a fine start to Rohit Sharma’s Test captaincy, following a 3-0 clean sweep in the T20Is. For Dimuth Karunaratne, it is a chance to make amends after the innings defeat in Mohali. It will be a clash between two sides with contrasting motivations when India faces Sri Lanka in the day-night Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium from Saturday.

India’s last pink-ball Test at home, against England in Ahmedabad in 2021, had finished within two days, the shortest completed Test since 1935.

In Mohali, India’s batting looked in healthy shape. By making the highest score by an Indian at No. 7 or lower in the last match, world No. 1 all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja displayed the value he brings to the lower-middle order.

RELATED | Jasprit Bumrah: The pink ball comes faster at you

On Friday, during India’s nearly 75-minute-long optional practice session, Jadeja spent considerable time warming up under the supervision of physio Nitin Patel and strength & conditioning coach Soham Desai before a short but sharp burst with the ball and the bat. In the near distance, the rest of the Indian players were loosening up, with captain Rohit and head coach Rahul Dravid taking a hard stare at the track, which wore a slightly dry, brown look.

Shortly after, Rohit took throwdowns from batting coach Vikram Rathour with Dravid watching on. Rathour largely sent down short-pitched and full-length balls, with Rohit either rolling his wrists on the pull to keep the ball down or going on the back foot to punch through point.

Rohit’s love-hate relationship with the short ball continued in the first Test, where he found long-leg with a pull, off pacer Lahiru Kumara. Rohit’s proclivity for the pull and hook against the short ball is well known, but he has also been out playing that shot. So, Sri Lanka may target Rohit with short balls again and see if they can induce an error early in his innings. Rohit and Dravid were among the last men, along with support staff, to walk out of the training.

The first Test answered a few questions about the Indian Test team, but not everything. The wait for the 71st hundred continues for Virat Kohli, but that is not as much a reflection of his batting as it is of the testing attacks and conditions he has faced of late.

Siraj or Axar

In bowling, Axar Patel is back in India’s squad, replacing left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who has been released. Axar is likely to be in India’s XI if the host side persists with a three-spinner ploy. In the only pink-ball Test match he has played, Axar took 11 wickets. However, India might also be tempted to try Mohammed Siraj with the pink ball. In the course of the match, off-spinner R. Ashwin, who went past Kapil Dev in Mohali as the second-highest wicket-taker for India, will also have his sights set on Dale Steyn’s 439.

Injury concerns

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is grappling with injury concerns. Pathum Nissanka, the lone bright spot with the bat in the first Test, is out with a back injury. Dinesh Chandimal could replace him.

Among bowlers, Lasith Embuldeniya fared well in Mohali but was the sole specialist spinner. With India playing a clutch of right-handers, Sri Lanka may play two left-arm spinners and give Praveen Jayawickrama, 23, a look in. With Lahiru out due to a hamstring tear, Sri Lanka may look at playing Chamika Karunaratne. This is Suranga Lakmal’s last series, and he would hope for a winning farewell.

From the two previous day-night Tests in India, it appeared that the movement of the SG pink ball in the air and off the surface was largely the same as that of the red ball. But the pink ball’s deviation through the air was more pronounced after passing the batter. How batters from both sides negotiate the pink ball in twilight could prove decisive.

For India, which is currently No. 5 in the World Test Championship points table, a 2-0 win will keep hopes of reaching the final alive. 

PREDICTED PLAYING XI

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hanuma Vihari, Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lahiru Thirimanne, Pathum Nissanka, Angelo Mathews, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Praveen Jayawickrama

TEAMS (from)

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Mayank Agarwal, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hanuma Vihari, S. Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Saurabh Kumar, Jayant Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Dhananjaya de Silva (vc), Angelo Mathews, Charith Asalanka, Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando, Praveen Jayawickrama, Chamika Karunaratne, Lahiru Kumara, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera, Jeffrey Vandersay.

WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH IND v SL, 2nd TEST IN BENGALURU? The match will be telecast from 2-00 PM IST on the Star Sports Network. The live streaming of the match will also be available on Disney+Hotstar.