Innings: India 536 for 7 dec (Kohli 243, Vijay 155, Rohit 65, Sandakan 4-167) v Sri Lanka
Virat Kohli brought up his sixth double-hundred and carried on to post his highest Test score, but the focus of the Delhi Test shifted to the quality of the city’s air on a bizarre second day. Sri Lanka’s fielders came out wearing face masks after lunch, and there were multiple hold-ups in play thereafter as they conveyed to the umpires the difficulty they were having in smoggy conditions.
Their two fast bowlers, Lahiru Gamage and Suranga Lakmal, went off the field midway through their overs, and eventually, during an impasse that brought Sri Lanka’s interim coach Nic Pothas onto the field – their manager Asanka Gurusinha and India coach Ravi Shastri had also made appearances by then – Kohli declared, signalling pointedly that his team was happy to bowl in these conditions.
When India declared, the air quality index (AQI) score at ITO – the area where Feroz Shah Kotla is located – was 205, which falls in the “very unhealthy” category. When Sri Lanka began their innings, it was their offspinning allrounder Dilruwan Perera – rather than Sadeera Samaraweera, who has been off the field since being struck on the helmet at short leg on day one – who walked out to open alongside Dimuth Karunaratne.
More to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo