IND vs SL 1st Test Day 3 Live Score, Updates: Ashwin-Jadeja look to spin a web

Virat Kohli reacts after complting his 8000 runs in Test cricket, on the 1st day of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka, at IS Bindra PCA Stadium, Mohali, Friday, March 4, 2022. (PTI Photo/Vijay Verma)

Sample these few deliveries from Mohammed Siraj to Virat Kohli in the Mohali nets on Wednesday afternoon. One zipped from short of a length past Kohli’s outside edge. Moments later, a slightly fuller one zipped through again and sent off stump for a walk. It seemed to take an eternity for the stumps to be put in place. Finally Siraj bustled in once more and bowled a perfectly acceptable good length ball. Kohli’s front foot sprung into action and the cover drive slammed into the side of the net. How many times have we seen that response in Test cricket from him. You keep beating him outside off, but all he needs is for you to give him that inch of an opening – it is not even an opening for most batsmen – and he hits the gap at extra cover.

It was certainly not Kohli’s day in the nets, though, especially against the spinners. R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Saurabh Kumar, all of them troubled him, even a local left-arm spinner bowled him twice. It is another matter that Kohli went after the last one mercilessly thereafter. (Read More)