WATCH: David Warner takes stunning catch to dismiss Sri Lankan skipper Dimuth Karunaratne during SL-Aus Test

Star Australian cricketer David Warner is one of the best fielders in world cricket at the moment. The 35-year-old is an extremely reliable player and has a safe pair of hands. On the first day of play of the opening Test between Sri Lanka and Australia at the Galle International stadium, the Aussie showed his incredible athletic skill to get rid of opposition skipper Dimuth Karunaratne.

On the second ball of the 30th over, which was bowled by legendary spinner Nathan Lyon, Warner took a brilliant catch to send the Sri Lanka opening batter back to the dugout. Moreover, Warner's catch also proved his game awareness was second-to-none; while all the Australian players turned to appeal for a LBW, 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 34-year-old was only able to score 28 runs from 84 balls in the first innings and added 38 runs for the first wicket with Pathum Nissanka (23) and another 32 for the third wicket with senior all-rounder Angelo Matthews (39).

Sri Lanka managed to post a total of 212 runs in the first innings against the Pat Cummins-led side. For the visitors, the spin duo of Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson shared eight wickets between them, while the two pacers – Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins – also got a wicket each.

In reply to Sri Lanka’s total, Australia ended the first day at 98 runs for the loss of three wickets in 25 overs. Usman Khawaja was batting at 47 and he was joined by Travis Head, who had scored 6 runs from 11 balls so far.

The series is being played for the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy, named after the two top spinners in Test history with 1,508 combined wickets in the format.

The Australian leg spinner, who finished his career with 708 wickets to his name, 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.