IND vs SL | 2nd Test | Day 1 - Shreyas Iyer saves India on an awful pitch

Shreyas Iyer’s exceptional 92 off 98 balls saved India on Day 1 of the Bengaluru Test match as Virat Kohli’s return to his IPL home ground turned out to be a nightmare for the batters.

A rank turner troubled the Indian batters from the very first overs of the game, and Indian batters succumbed to the oddities of the pitch throughout the first innings of the game. It was only Shreyas Iyer who was able to to pass the 50-run mark, scoring an attacking 92 runs before falling as the last wicket, late in the second session of the day.

Barring Iyer, Rishabh Pant looked very well for his 39 off 26 after the batters realised 20 overs into the innings, that there was no way of surviving on a pitch that was turning square from the very first session of the game.

Former captain Virat Kohli, was playing a brisk innings, but a length ball from Dhananjaya de Silva kept low and undid his 23-run innings in 48 balls.

The pitch came under massive scrutiny on social media for its inconsistent bounce. Players like Kohli were done in by the lack of bounce in the innings, while Ravindra Jadeja and Hanuma Vihari fell against the ball that shot up from the spot.

Whatever the case, the pitch could not take away the spotlight from Shreyas Iyer who stunned Sri Lanka - who were thinking to wrap India up within 170-180 runs. However, their plans were undone by the sharp feet of Iyer, who used them to perfection to bring India back on track, after they were down by four for just 86 runs.

Going into the game, Sri Lanka will have a steep task ahead of them chasing 252 runs in the first innings against the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, who would surely be wanting to have a shy at the SL batters in their home conditions.