I felt satisfied with Virat Kohli's wicket: Suranga Lakmal

Sri Lanka’s Suranga Lakmal’s fiery spell on the first day of the 1st Test match in Kolkata was the only talking point on a rain-hit day. With figures of 7-7-0-3, Lakmal did something which many of the finest bowlers from around the world failed to do. He scalped the big three wickets of the openers- KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan and then the skipper Virat Kohli for a duck.

He dismissed Rahul in the first ball of the match and then picked the other two crucial wickets. India eventually got out for 172 in the first innings, with Cheteshwar Pujara scoring a hard-fought 52 off 117 balls and Wriddhiman Saha chipping in with an 83-ball 29.

Lakmal shines in Kolkata

“I have dismissed so many big names in world cricket but not (Virat) Kohli. Very satisfied that the planning that I put in, worked and that I was able to dismiss him for a duck,” Lakmal told Cricbuzz. The right-arm pacer had missed the home series against India due to an injury. India registered a clean sweep on that tour.

It was Kohli’s fifth duck in 2017 and he joined former Indian skipper Kapil Dev in the list of most number of ducks in a calendar year. The right-hand batsman was out for a duck in the Pune Test against Australia before he was back in the hut for a duck against Sri Lanka in the Champions Trophy in England. He was once again dismissed for a duck during the ODI in Chennai and the T20I match in Guwahati against Australia recently.

Sri Lanka are yet to win a Test match in India and Lakmal is eager to do well. “I want to take a five-wicket haul here somehow. That will be great if I can do that. India is world’s number one ranked team and doing it against them will be a good achievement,” Lakmal said.