India dominated the opening day of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka at Feroz Shah Kotla (Delhi).
India decided to bat first after winning the toss. India was batting on 371/4 and also looking for the big first innings total.
Brief Scores: India – 371/4 (Virat Kohli 156*, Murali Vijay 155, Lahiru Gamage 1/68)
Here are some statistical highlights of Day 1 of the third Test:
- Playing his 25th Test match, Sri Lankan off-spinner Dilruwan Perera completed taking 100 Test wicket. It is the fastest (according to the no.of matches) to take 100 Test wicket by a Sri Lankan bowler. Previous record holder was former off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who had achieved that feat in 27 Tests.
- Playing his 105th Test innings, Indian batsman Virat Kohli completed his 5,000 Test runs. He is the fourth fastest (according to the no.of innings) among the Indian batsmen to complete 5,000 Test runs. Here is the detail list:
Fastest 5000 Test runs by the Indian batsmen
| Player | Innings | Matches |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 95 | 52 |
| Virender Sehwag* | 99 | 59 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 103 | 67 |
| Virat Kohli | 105 | 63 |
| Rahul Dravid | 108 | 63 |
(Note: *Sehwag’s innings and matches including ICC World XI)
- During the day, Indian skipper Virat Kohli also completed his 3,000 runs as Test skipper. He became the only third Indian Test skipper to score 3,000+ runs. Here is the detail list:
Indian Test captains who have scored 3,000+ Test runs
| Player | Matches | Innings | Runs scored | Average |
| MS Dhoni | 60 | 96 | 3454 | 40.63 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 47 | 74 | 3449 | 50.72 |
| Virat Kohli* | 32 | 50 | 3033 | 67.40 |
(Note: *Virat Kohli’s 50th innings as Test captain has not finished yet)
- Indian batsmen Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli put a mammoth 283 runs partnership for the third wicket. Here are some important stats of this partnership:
i) It is India’s highest runs Test partnership for any wicket against Sri Lanka. The previous record was 272 runs partnership for the 6th wicket between Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev at Kanpur in 1986.
ii) It is India’s fourth highest Test partnership for the third wicket against any team. Here is the detail list:
India’s top third wicket Test partnerships
| Partners’ names | Partnership runs | Opposition | Venue | Year |
| Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar | 336 | Pakistan | Multan | 2004 |
| Gundappa Viswanath and Yashpal Sharma | 316 | England | Chennai | 1982 |
| Murali Vijay and Sachin Tendulkar | 308 | Australia | Bengaluru | 2010 |
| Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli | 283 | Sri Lanka | Delhi | 2017 |
- At the stumps of the day, Indian skipper Virat Kohli was batting on 156 runs. It was Virat’s second 150+ Test knock against Sri Lanka as captain, as he had also scored 213 runs in the previous Test at Nagpur. With this innings, Kohli became the only second Test captain to play 150+ innings against Sri Lanka more than once. Former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming also had two 150+ innings against Sri Lanka as Test captain.
Also, Virat Kohli became the first captain to play century knocks in each Test of a 3-match Test series. Before today’s knock, Kohli had scored 104* in the first Test at Kolkata and 213 in the second Test at Nagpur.
- At the stumps of the day, Virat Kohli has scored 2,681 runs in 2017 international cricket. It is the most runs scored in international cricket by an Indian batsman in a calendar year. The previous record holder was Rahul Dravid with 2,626 runs in 1999 international cricket.
Also, Virat Kohli is just 152 runs behind from the most runs scorer in international cricket in a calendar year. Currently, Kohli is in the fourth position and here is the detail list:
Most runs scored in international cricket in a calendar year
| Player (Team) | Matches | Innings | Runs scored | Average | Year |
| Ricky Ponting (Australia/ICC World XI) | 46 | 58 | 2,833 | 56.66 | 2005 |
| Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) | 47 | 56 | 2,813 | 53.07 | 2014 |
| Kane Williamson (New Zealand) | 39 | 46 | 2,692 | 65.65 | 2015 |
| Virat Kohli (India) | 46 | 51 | 2,681 | 68.74 | 2017 |
- Indian batsmen Murali Vijay (155) and Virat Kohli (156*) both played 150+ innings. It is the third time when more than one Indian batsman played 150+ knock against Sri Lanka in a Test innings. Here is the detail list:
| Total no.of players to play 150+ knock in an innings | Innings no.of the Test match | Venue | Year |
| 3 | 2 | Kanpur | 1986 |
| 2 | 1 | Galle | 2017 |
| 2* | 1 | Delhi | 2017 |
(Note: *the innings has not completed yet)