Watch: Amid LBW appeals from Australia players, Warner shows incredible game-awareness to dismiss SL captain Karunaratne
David Warner showed impressive game-awareness as he took a brilliant catch to dismiss Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne during Day 1 of the first Test against Sri Lanka.
Australia star David Warner showed his incredible athletic skills once again as he took a brilliant catch to dismiss Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne on Day 1 of the first Test. Moreover, Warner's catch also proved his game awareness was second-to-none; while all the Australia players turned to appeal for a leg-before wicket, Warner, who was standing at first slip, made a gigantic leap to catch the ball instead. As it turned out, the ball had impacted the bat before the pad, and Karunaratne was adjudged out.
The Sri Lankan skipper had been holding one end as the wickets continued to fall on the other, with his opening partner Pathum Nissanka (23) and Kusal Mendis (3) being dismissed cheaply. As it turned out, Karunaratne's dismissal triggered a batting collapse for Sri Lanka as the side lost its next two wickets within 23 runs, and lost a sixth at a score of 139.
Watch Warner's brilliant catch which put Australia on the front on Day 1 of the Test:
The series is being played for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy named after the two top bowlers in Test history with 1,508 combined wickets in the format. This is the first series for the trophy after Australian great Shane Warne died in March from a heart attack while vacationing in Thailand.
A brief remembrance was held for Warne before the match.
The Australian leg spinner who took 708 test wickets behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan's 800, took his 500th test wicket at this ground in 2004 and later helped rebuild the ground after it was destroyed by the Asian tsunami later that year.
Sri Lanka's Karunaratne had won the toss and opted to bat in the game. Mitchell Starc and captain Pat Cummins are the pacers in the Australia XI for the game, while Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson lead the spin attack.