Kohli drives home the advantage: Talking points as India take control of Nagpur Test

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  • A quick-fire fifty from Kohli helped India drive home the advantage.

    After having bowled out Sri Lanka for 25 runs in their first innings, India took complete control of the second Test between the two sides on day two at Nagpur.

    Centuries from Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara broke the visitors’ resistance as only one wicket fell on Saturday after 11 were dismissed on the opening day.

    The hosts were strongly placed at 312-2 by the time stumps were called at the Vidharbha Cricket Association stadium.

    We look at the key talking points of an energy sapping day in the field for the islanders.

    Vijay and Pujara put on fourth consecutive 100-run stand

    The Vijay and Pujara combination for the second wicket has been a fruitful one for India in the past year and more. The two had put together eight century stands together before coming into the Nagpur Test along with three in succession.

    Their mammoth 209-run stand on Saturday was their fourth 100-run plus partnership on the trot. Only four other batting pairs have achieved this feat before in Test cricket, catapulting Pujara and Vijay into a select club.

    The duo have now added 2,548 runs between them for the second wicket in Test cricket for India, behind only Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag who have 2,610 runs to their name.

    Pujara and Vijay now average 89.09 runs per completed partnership between themselves at home for India with three double-century stands to boot.

    Pujara and Vijay have now put up nine century stands between themselves.

    Pujara and Vijay have now put up nine century stands between themselves.

    Marathon man Pujara set to bat in all eight days of the series so far

    When stumps were called on Saturday, Pujara’s unbeaten ton meant that he had batted in all the seven days of the series so far. The 29-year-old had become the third Indian batsman to bat in all five days of a Test match during the first match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

    Such have been the circumstances in the series so far that the right-handed batsman will take the crease once again on Sunday, making it eight out of eight days that Pujara has batted in the series so far.

    He had come in to bat at the end of day one after the fall of KL Rahul’s wicket and remained unbeaten on Saturday with a 121-run knock. It seems highly improbable that Pujara will be able to repeat his Kolkata feat but a Sri Lankan collapse in the second innings could yet open the door for that.

    The right-hander became the third batsman to hit a 1000 runs in the calendar year on the back of his 14th Test century.

    Virat Kohli drives home the advantage with quick-fire fifty

    Vijay and Pujara wore out the Sri Lankan bowlers all day on the Nagpur track. After starting cautiously in the morning, the pair accelerated the rate of scoring in the afternoon session.

    The visitors were sent on a leather hunt for the most part on the day as they found no reward for their persistence. The breakthrough finally came in the final session of the day when Vijay fell to veteran spinner Rangana Herath.

    If Dinesh Chandimal’s men thought that the wicket would bring some respite they were grossly mistaken as Kohli put the tiring bowlers to the sword.

    The right-hander was busy at the crease and his unbeaten 54 off just 70 balls meant India had almost accumulated a 100-run lead over Sri Lanka’s efforts in the second-day itself.

    If Kohli continues in the same vein on Sunday, things could get ugly for the visitors.

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