India vs Sri Lanka, 1st Test: In Kohli's 100th Test, Pant bludgeons 96 to steer India to a strong position

Pant is an anomaly in Indian cricket. He changes the course of a game faster than the opinions about him. Friday was just another day of now-usual Pant-mania as he walked in at 170/3 40 minutes before tea, took on a rather erratic but effective Sri Lankan attack and left the field half an hour before stumps after ravaging the tourists with a 97-ball 96 on the opening day of the two-Test series. As it happened | ScorecardThe 172 minutes of exhilarating batting, which was ended by Suranga Lakmal breaching his defence with the second new ball, had put India in a position of dominance with 357/6 on the board at stumps. The carnage inflicted by Pant aside, Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne may be ruing playing three seamers and one specialist spinner. He has laid the foundation for Ravindra Jadeja (batting on 45) and Ashwin (unbeaten on 10) to bat Sri Lanka out of the game on Saturday morning.

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Virat Kohli had "butterflies" in his stomach and "felt nervous" like a debutant when he walked out to bat in his 100th Test but he is not bothered by lack of hundreds as he feels he is batting well. Kohli scored 45 and looked set before being bowled by Lasith Embuldeniya on the opening day of

He was indeed an anomaly on Friday — a day which was meant to celebrate Virat Kohli's 100th Test. Every batter including new Test skipper Rohit Sharma (29), Kohli (45) and new No. 3 Hanuma Vihari (58) seemed to have the Sri Lankan attack on the mat but failed to carry on and score big as the pitch offered some variable pace and bounce along with a hint of sharp turn. Pant's stocks have grown exponentially in the last one year. That he has grown to become the latest