Sri Lanka’s Suranga Lakmal says Virat Kohli’s wicket ‘special’ in his career
Suranga Lakmal, who picked up 4/26 in the innings of the Kolkata Test against India, has said the wicket of Virat Kohli, whom he dismissed for a duck, was the most special in his career so far.
Suranga Lakmal’s spell on the first day of the Kolkata Test against India was a magnificent exhibition of swing bowling. He picked up three quick wickets and at one time, had figures of 7-7-0-3. In that magic spell, he had dismissed KL Rahul in the first ball of the match, Shikhar Dhawan for 2 and India skipper Virat Kohli for 0.
Speaking to cricbuzz, the right-arm pacer, who had missed the series played at home against India in July-August due to injury, said Virat Kohli’s wicket was a price scalp in his career. “I have dismissed so many big names in world cricket but not (Virat) Kohli. Very satisfied that the planning that I put in, worked and that I was able to dismiss him for a duck,” Lakmal said.
After dismissing Dhawan for eight, Lakmal bowled a leg-cutter to Kohli first ball and it beat the outside edge. The Sri Lankan pacer kept probing away and he reaped success when he trapped the Indian skipper LBW for 0.
Kohli’s duck was his fifth in 2017 and he joined Kapil Dev with most number of ducks in a calendar year . Virat Kohli had been dismissed for a duck in the Pune Test against Australia, was sent back for a no score in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 encounter against Sri Lanka. In the limited-overs series against Australia, Kohli was dismissed for a duck in the Chennai ODI and in the Twenty20 in Barsapara, Guwahati.
Lakmal, who has taken only one five-wicket haul in Tests, said he wanted to do well in India. “I want to take a five-wicket haul here somehow. That will be great if I can do that. India is world’s number one ranked team and doing it against them will be a good achievement,” Lakmal said.
Sri Lanka will be aiming to win a Test match in India for the first time.
