India vs Sri Lanka pink-ball Test off to a dramatic start

M Chinnaswamy Stadium. There couldn’t have been a better advertisement for the classical format of cricket. But the pitch, a dry wicket offering ample turn and the odd ball keeping low ensured truncated stints at the crease for Rohit Sharma & Co. Under lights, there was no relief for the Sri Lankan batters either. As many as 16 wickets tumbled on either side with India holding a 166-run advantage. FULL SCORECARDIndia reached 252 in 59.1 overs courtesy a defining innings of 92 (98b, 10x4, 4x6) from Shreyas Iyer and returned in the final session to leave the Sri Lankan challenge in tatters, reducing them to 86/6 in 30 overs. Barring Angelo Mathews (43), none of the Lankan batters got going and it wasn't the spinners but the pacers who got purchase with Jasprit Bumrah (3/15) leading the pack with Mohammed Shami (2/18).

The proceedings on the day would have reminded Sunil Gavaskar, in the commentary box, of a similar situation against Pakistan in the 1987 Test match. Twelve wickets fell on the day with spin being the driving force. Blame it on the novelty of the D/N Test match or the curators underestimating the heat, within the first half hour, a puff of dust was visible. With most of the batters falling to the guile of spin, it felt like Iyer was batting on a different pitch. The hard yards put on the red soil surfaces in Mumbai probably paid off.

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His counter-attacking knock put India in the driver's seat in the second Test against Sri Lanka and Shreyas Iyer asserted that batting with a defensive mind-set does not help on difficult wickets like the M Chinnaswamy track.

In what will go down as one of his best innings, Iyer