India v Sri Lanka: Lakmal sends KL Rahul packing for golden duck with a peach delivery
Lakmal continued his venomous spell and went on to bowl as many as 36 dot balls on a row until the play was interrupted due to bad light.
The first Test of Sri Lanka’s tour of India went underway after a delayed start at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Team India were asked to bat first and it was a horror start for the Virat Kohli-led side in the match. Opener KL Rahul was sent back packing for a golden duck on the very first delivery of the match.
It was an absolute peach of a delivery from Suranga Lakmal that saw KL Rahul head back to the pavilion without putting a run on the board. It was a dream start for the Sri Lankans, who are in search for their first ever Test win on the Indian soil. Coming to the delivery, Suranga Lakmal bowled a good length line. The ball pitched just outside around off stump.
The new ball seamed away from the batsman and had a rising bounce to it. The ball managed to take a faint tickle off the bat of KL Rahul and Niroshan Dickwella pocketed the catch with ease. Lakmal’s peach of a delivery squared up Rahul, who had scored seven consecutive fifties before arriving into this series. Rahul became the 6th Indian batsman to be dismissed on the first ball of a Test match.
He joined the list that has the names of Sunil Gavaskar (on three occasions), Sudhir Naik, W Raman, SS Das, and Wasim Jaffer. It certainly was not the kind of start that Rahul and team India were hoping to get. For the visitors, the dream start continued to prosper on an Eden tracked that oozed bounce.
Lakmal continued his venomous spell and went on to bowl as many as 36 dot balls on a row until the play was interrupted due to bad light. En route, he dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli as well.
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