Masterful Kohli shapes strong Indian start

Dhawan and Kohli added 105 for the third wicket, and seemed well on their way to collating the kind of monster partnership that would set the game up perfectly, when again the suggestion of a break resulted in a dismissal. Dhawan, who had been pitch perfect in his rendition of 84, chose the wrong Bishoo ball to sweep, and when he missed, Aleem Dar had no trouble raising his finger, the red cherry heading for the middle of the middle stump before its trajectory was interrupted by pad.

Ajinkya Rahane became Kohli’s foil, protecting the partnership and keeping the scoreboard ticking over with hard-run ones and twos. There was much promise to the stand, and as Kohli motored towards the three-figure mark without the slightest suggestion of nerves, his batting partner botched a biff off bustling Bishoo. Kohli could barely believe his eyes, watching in horror as a long-hop even worse than the one that accounted for Pujara resulted in a dismissal, this time the pull being mis-hit to mid-wicket.

Having chosen to play with only five specialist batsmen, plumping for strength in the bowling department by adding Umesh Yadav into the mix, there was an elevation for R Ashwin, the first time he has appeared at No. 6 in a Test. Ashwin was confident in himself, stretching fully forward to defend and punching sweetly off the back foot when the opportunity provided itself.

But while Ashwin did his job most efficiently, he was a mere fence painter to Kohli’s Picasso. Having brought up his 12th Test hundred as though it was a mere formality, Kohli dolled up his batting. A straight drive that was perfection personified and several shots through cover where the batsman watched the ball right onto bat and them seemed to cajole rather than cream five and a half ounces of leather to the boundary had the small but vocal crowd applauding in appreciation.

Taking leading from the front literally, Kohli showed that there were neither demons in the pitch, depth in the opposition bowling nor jinxes in breaks in play, being unbeaten on 143 when stumps were drawn. India had 302 on the board and though it had lost a couple of wickets more than it would have liked, this was a fine way to start a tour in which there is plenty of cricket to be played yet.