India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test: Rohit Sharma wins toss, elect to bat; Virat Kohli plays 100th Test

Mohali, March 4: India won the toss and skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bat first in the opening Test of the two-match series here at the PCA Stadium on Friday (March 4).

This is former India skipper Virat Kohli’s 100th Test and so far he has played 99 Tests, making 7926 runs with 27 hundreds.

In the team news front, India took the field with 3 spinners in R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jayant Yadav with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami doing the pacers’ duty.

It meant that Mohammad Siraj will have to sit out of this Test.

1 Playing 11

India: 1 Rohit Sharma (captain), 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Hanuma Vihari, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Jayant Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah.

Sri Lanka: 1 Dimuth Karunaratne (captain), 2 Lahiru Thirimanne, 3 Pathum Nissanka, 4 Angelo Mathews, 5 D de Silva, 6 Charith Asalanka, 7 Niroshan Dickwella (wk), 8 Suranga Lakmal, 9 Lasith Embuldeniya, 10 Vishwa Fernando, 11 Lahiru Kumara.

2 Captains speak

Dimuth Karunaratne: We wanted to bat first as well. We are playing three seamers, but it is a good wicket to bat on. We have played 300 Tests but we never won in India. We have a good team, with the senior and junior combinations and we are prepared. We are going in with three seamers and two spinners.

Rohit Sharma: We are going to bat first. Similar Indian conditions, so it's important for us to put runs on the board and take it from there. It is a huge honour to be captaining India and be part of the list.

It is something I never dreamt of. It has been quite buzzing. We know it is a special occasion. Not many people go on to play 100 Tests, and Virat has been looking forward to this game. We are playing three spinners and two seamers.