Watch: Virat Kohli wanted to declare when on 97, Ravi Shastri said bat on

Virat Kohli (PTI)

New Delhi: The team man in captain Virat Kohli came to the fore on a cat-and-mouse day of Test cricket on Monday when India fell just three wickets short of winning the first match of the series against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In a match badly hit by rain on the first two days, teams required to think and react quickly, which is when Kohli, batting on 97 in India's second innings, signalled to the dressing room seemingly asking coach Ravi Shastri whether he should declare to have enough overs in hand for bowling out the opposition for a win.

Kohli's century (104*) was his 50th in international cricket, only the second Indian after Sachin Tendulkar to do so. Interestingly, it came at the back of a duck in the first innings of the match. He is the fastest to 50 international tons.

The BCCI posted a video from the match where Kohli looks like gesturing to get the coach's attention for an advice on declaration. However, the sign language in the footage suggests Shastri asked Kohli to bat for another couple of overs and then sent the message in through the 12th man to make sure.

How about that for sign language? Care to decode this conversation between the Captain and Coach? #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/cN54UzGJy8 — BCCI (@BCCI) November 20, 2017

Soon after, Kohli completed his 18th Test century and declared India's innings at 352/8, setting a 231-run target for the Lankans. The hosts almost claimed an unlikely win reducing the visitors to 75/7 before bad light intervened and umpires stopped play.

18th Test century for @imVkohli followed by the declaration. Sri Lanka need 231 runs to win the 1st Test #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/J0Lqp650SZ — BCCI (@BCCI) November 20, 2017

The second Test begins in Nagpur on Friday.