Sri Lanka perhaps went to bed on Day 1 of the Colombo Test assuming they had already seen the last of Rishabh Pant for the first innings. The India wicketkeeper-batter suffered a stinging blow to his hand and was forced to retire hurt late on Sunday.

Sri Lanka bowling coach Ryan van Niekerk, under the impression that Pant was only '50-50' to resume batting, felt his pacers could maximise the first hour on Monday with a ball that was only five overs old.

But 11 balls into the morning session, Pant strode out to join Dhruv Jurel. The odds of him sitting this innings out were infinitesimal. This is, after all, the same player who came down a flight of stairs to awe and applause from the Old Trafford crowd last year.

A broken foot had already ruled him out of the remainder of that Test and the next at The Oval, but India needed him to bat, and he limped his way to the middle. The blow to his hand in Colombo wasn't even in the same postcode for significance or pain.

For the rest of the morning session, the Colombo Test condensed into a singular contest: Sri Lanka vs Pant. Fields changed, bowling lines switched and the short balls kept coming. He took them all on like only he does, even copping a bouncer on the shoulder. He put plenty of them away for runs too.

It's not that Sri Lanka ignored India's other wicketkeeper-batter. They would've welcomed a wicket at either end with open arms. But Pant's expansive tendencies, which had India moving at close to four an over, demanded all the attention. His methods brought opportunities with them too, while Jurel quietly ticked away, almost unnoticed.

Source: cricbuzz