After India dominated all four days of cricket in the first Test in Galle, it was domination central yet again, this time on the opening day of the second Test match against Sri Lanka at the SSC in Colombo.
For the second time in the series, Virat Kohli won the toss and had absolutely no hesitation to bat first, and, while there was one brief moment, at 133/3 when Sri Lanka looked like they might claw their way back and make things difficult for India, it vanished pretty quickly as Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane struck up a delightful partnership for the fourth wicket.
It might not have been quite as comprehensive as the first day of the first Test match, when India scored 399 runs, but it wasn't too far away with the No.1 ranked team in the world finishing the opening day of the second Test on 344 for three in 90 overs.
As that score shows, this is quickly turning out to be an awfully one-sided series, and will remain so unless Sri Lanka do something miraculous in the remainder of this Test match.
There are no signs of that happening, unfortunately, even after Sri Lanka tweaked their bowling by playing the extra spinner, as Malinda Pushpakumara was given a debut, with Nuwan Pradeep the only seamer in the playing XI. To make matters worse, Pradeep pulled up with a hamstring injury four balls after Sri Lanka took the second new ball in the 81st over. In the opening match, SL lost Asela Gunaratne in the first morning, they'll hope Pradeep doesn't miss the rest of the match.
Rangana Herath opened the bowling with Pradeep, but was not effective enough, with Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul racing off to a fast start, taking India to 56 in the first 10 overs. There were a couple of streaky shots in there, with a bit of spin on offer, albeit slow spin, but for the most part, both batsmen were quite dominant.
Dhawan (35, 37b, 5x4, 1x6) was picked up by Dilruwan Perera in his first over, as the left-hander failed to make contact while going for a sweep, with Sri Lanka using the review to good effect.
After that wicket, Sri Lanka got back some control, as Pujara struggled to break the shackles, going into his shell, even if Rahul looked smooth at the other end.
When India went into Lunch on 101/1 in 28 overs, Pujara was on 14 from 58 balls. In the next session, the right-hander went on to score 75 runs from 82 balls to move to 89 from 140 balls at Tea. And all that despite losing Rahul (57, 82b, 7x4), run out after a mix-up, and Kohli (13, 29b, 2x4), caught brilliantly at first slip by Angelo Mathews off Herath, within the first hour of the post Lunch session.
Once Rahane walked in and timed a couple of balls wonderfully, it just seemed to rub off on Pujara, playing his 50th Test, as well, with the two right-handers playing some sublime cricket to completely take the game away from the home team.
Rahane (103, 168b, 12x4) and Pujara (128, 225b, 10x4, 1x6) put on 211 runs together and that unbeaten partnership has put India in a position to post another massive first innings total. And on a wicket that is a lot drier and taking some turn, it is going to be a lot more difficult for Sri Lanka to stage a fightback.
