India celebrate their historic 2-1 win
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
India sliced through Sri Lanka’s batting line-up on the final day of the third Test in Colombo to not only win the match by 117 runs, but register their first victory in Sri Lanka in 22 years.
Even though Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews scored a valiant 110 and debutant Kusal Perera made a career-best 70, it was not enough to deny India their first overseas series victory in four years.
Starting out the day on 67/3, all the Sri Lankan batsmen, with the exception of Mathews and Perera, failed to have a major impact with the bat.
Mathews is delighted after scoring his seventh Test century
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Mathews managed to keep India at bay for quite a while with his innings of 110, which came off 240 balls and included 13 boundaries, while Perera scored 70 off 106 deliveries, which included 11 boundaries.
Perera made a gutsy 70
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
With opener Kaushal Silva making the next highest score of 27, it was no surprise when Sri Lanka were dismissed for 268.
Ravichandran Ashwin inflicted the most damage as he took four wickets, while Ishant Sharma picked up three, Umesh Yadav snapped up two and Amit Mishra claimed one.
Mathews was gutted to have lost the series 2-1, and said: “Disappointed, especially after winning a crucial toss and them batting in demanding conditions. Our batting flopped again. The bowlers were outstanding. And then after giving them a 100-run lead, we did not bat well. We could have kept them under 300 in the first innings. The bowlers bowled pretty well, but India batted well. Our first innings batting was crucial, we needed to get close to 300. Thought if me and Kusal could have stayed there longer, it could have been different. But they bowled really well.”
India captain Virat Kohli was ecstatic to have won his first series in charge of the national team, and said: “Being 0-1 down was never easy. I was told it has never been done [away from home], created a bit of history. Even the guys who haven’t played, guys like Bhuvi and Varun and Bhajji, a senior, who has run around and helped everyone. Feels nice, especially with such a young team, early in our careers, it is a magnificent milestone, winning here for the first time in 22 years.
“Injuries are always something that frustrates the team, But the attitude has been brilliant and you mentioned Pujara came in after someone was injured and he saw it as an opportunity and not difficulty. That is why we are playing the kind of cricket we are playing. There are areas we want to improve on, but over the series, we can count the number of sessions we were bad on one hand. Really proud of the boys.”
India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara was named Man of the Match, and said: “It was a very good opportunity for me, we were 1-1 and we won the series now. Facing the new ball was challenging, it was an opportunity as well. My preparation was good, and my experience in international cricket has helped.”
Ashwin was named Man of the Series, and said: “I’d like to thank the boys, the catching has been brilliant and that is why I have more than 20 wickets in the series. Having been here before for the one-day tournaments, and we had a practice game as well and my takeaway was that the wickets were slow and I have to put more body in. It has been quite a while to win a Man of the Series, happy to win it. Had a few tennis elbow issues, had to change my technique a little bit. Happy to pay them back with a fifty.”