India overcame stoic resistance from Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne on Monday to crush the visiting side by a heavy margin of 238 runs and claim the two-match series 2-0 with a remarkable victory over the island nation, in their first-ever day-night match played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Sri Lanka, who had resumed their second innings on Monday at a precarious position of 28/1 chasing 447 runs to win, were bowled out for 208 — their first ever score in excess of 200 runs across four innings in the Test series — courtesy of a brilliant 14th career century by Sri Lanka captain Karunaratne.
The left-handed opening batsman was absolutely brilliant on both the sides of the wicket and against rampant Indian spin bowlers to score 107 from 174 balls, hitting 15 boundaries in the process, before Jasprit Bumrah found a way through his defence to bring an end to his remarkable effort.
Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (4/55), Ravindra Jadeja (1/48) and Akshar Patel (2/32) shared seven wickets between them while Bumrah claimed 3 more wickets to add to his first innings tally of 5/24 and Mohammad Shami claimed 1, as the home team bowlers ruled the roost despite the visiting side putting their best foot forward as far as batting was concerned.
Sri Lanka were 419 runs away from victory while India needed 9 more wickets when play resumed on Monday for the third day. India, who were hoping to make early breakthroughs, were made to work hard for their wickets as the pair of Kusal Mendis and Karunaratne batted very well to keep Sri Lanka afloat.
The pair of Mendis and Karunaratne produced the best partnership for Sri Lanka in the Test series when it was virtually all over for their side, adding 97 runs for the second wicket.
Mendis was able to bring up his 12th Test half-century but was dismissed soon after. The right-handed Sri Lanka batsman was guilty of charging down the track as Ashwin managed to beat him in the air with a quick in-dipper, getting him stumped for 54 from 60 balls, having hit 8 boundaries in the process.
Indian were soon able to make further inroads as Angelo Mathews (1) was cleaned up through the gate by Ravindra Jadeja while Dhananjaya de Silva batted a little awkwardly during his innings of 10 before he was trapped leg-before by India fast bowler Shami.
After two embarrassing dismissals in last as many innings, Charith Asalanka went back to the strategy of batting responsibly and not aggressively but his innings did not last long enough. The left-handed Sri Lanka batsman was caught by Ashwin off Patel for 5 whereas Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella could only make 21 from 38 balls with the help of 3 boundaries.
While the visiting side kept losing wickets at regular intervals at one end, Karunaratne held fort at the other end strongly, displaying exemplary foot work against spin bowlers and swift and adroit hands to get his runs. Karunaratne was able to exploit gaps in the field with a lot of ease, forcing those who were watching to think what if some of that had come earlier at any point in the series.
Sri Lanka's resistance petered out with the dismissal of Karunaratne, who was removed finally by India's vice-captain Bumrah. The ace Indian bowler once again found a huge gap between the bat and pads of a Sri Lankan batsman, cleaning up Karunaratne for 107.
The Indian team won hearts with their act of congratulating and wishing the outgoing Sri Lankan fast bowler Suranga Lakmal, who played his last Test for his country as he is set to move to England to pursue a county cricket career that Derbyshire, reuniting with the former national team’s South African-Australian coach Mickey Arthur.
For his exemplary work behind the wickets with the gloves and 185 runs from two matches with a couple of half-centuries at an average of 61.66, India's Rishabh Pant was named the Man of the Series. The Man of the Match award went to Shreyas Iyer, who scored vital half-centuries in both innings for his side on a challenging pitch at Bangalore to help them record a huge victory.
The Indian cricketers will now head towards their respective franchises to start preparing for the Indian T20 cricket league 2022, which starts in Mumbai on March 26 with the four-time and defending champions Chennai set to take on last year’s finalists Kolkata in the opening match of the tournament.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
Read All Articles >
