Virat Kohli And Ravi Shastri Used Coded Language During The India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test

During a rain-hit India vs Sri Lanka 1st Test, what we witnessed was the visitors having all the intent of redemption for their 9-0 tour-wash failures at home earlier this year as there was a couple of moments in the Test match where India seemed on the back foot and Sri Lanka was close to recording their first-ever win against India in their own backyard in the format.

After giving a reeling trail of 172 runs in the first innings, backed by a dependable fifty from Cheteshwar Pujara (52) at a time when the whole batting order went cheap against the attack of Suranga Lakmal (19-26-4), Sri Lanka repeat their dominance in the second inning as Lahiru Thirimanne (51), Lahiru Thirimanne (52) and Rangana Herath (67) all gave their contribution towards the 294-run total, giving India a trail of 122 runs on the fourth day.

From there on, if the Indian batting order would have tumbled down just like the 1st innings, Sri Lanka was, for sure, in for a record-breaking victory but then the unexpected happened.

While KL Rahul (79) and Shikhar Dhawan (94) gave a great start to the target-setting innings with a 166-run stand, in came the Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who went on scoring his 50th International century and becoming the fastest batsmen to achieve this feat in 348 innings.

However, there was a moment when the world got to see the sportsmanship of the Indian skipper Virat Kohli as he was ready to declare the innings in order to try and defeat Sri Lanka in the remaining one and a half sessions.

Also Read: Virat Kohli Breaks Multiple Records In A Thrilling Draw

The Indian Skipper was nearing his century with 14 runs remaining when he gestured towards the dressing room and asked about should he declare the innings right then?

With just over a session remaining, team India were running out of time and Kohli’s gesture was for India coach Ravi Shastri to ask if it was time to declare.

Watch the video here:

The message was clear, bat for 20 more runs or 4 more overs, whichever happens first and declare.

While we really love the fact that the Kohli-Shastri relationship is shaping really well, what left us in awe was Virat Kohli putting his team before his personal milestone.

That said, in the next four overs, the Indian skipper indeed notched up a great hindered as Sri Lanka were given a target of 231 runs with 42 overs remaining for the day. What followed was a couple of destructive spells by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (11-8-4) and Mohammed Shami (9.3-34-2) that took the host very close to an unexpected victory, however, the hammer of time was put down and the match went for a draw with the visitors being at 75 for 7.