At the start of the play, Sri Lanka needed 419 runs more to square off the two-match series against India, but lost three wickets for 123 runs in the first session. Kusal Mendis and Captain Dimuth Karunaratne stitched a crucial 97-run partnership for the second wicket after taking the attack to the Indian spinners. Mendis raced past his half century, but fell to Ravichandran Ashwin who equaled South African great Dale Steyn’s tally of 439 Test wickets. He scored 54 runs off 60 balls with 8 boundaries and was brilliantly stumped by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. Angelo Mathews (1) and Dhananjaya de Silva (4) did not hang around much but Niroshana Dickwella, promoted ahead of Asalanka de Silva, dropped anchor, giving solid company to his captain while facing the relentless Indian bowlers. Axar Patel struck twice after Tea to dismiss Niroshan Dickwella (12) and Charith Asalanka (5), respectively. The match ended within three days after Rohit Sharma won the toss on Day 1 and opted to bat first. Right from the word go India were put under pressure on a pitch that had uneven bounce. Shreyas Iyer’s 92 ensured that India had a fighting total of 252 runs on board in first innings. Bumrah and Mohammad Shami came back strongly for India under lights and blew Sri Lanka away as the ball swung and scooted low, intermittently. The visitors lost six wickets and next morning another four, saw them fold to a paltry 109. With a massive lead to their credit, India batted smoothly in their second innings, although there was no change in the track. Rishabh Pant’s 50 in 28 balls, the fastest by an Indian in Tests, and Shreyas’ half centuries in both innings, knocked Sri Lanka out of contention. India declared at 303 for 9, setting a mammoth target of 447 for the visitors to square off the test series, but that did not happen as Sri Lanka batsmen fell like a pack of cards, except for captain Karunaratne, who notched up his 14th Test hundred surpassing Sanath Jayasuriya’s tally of 13 tons, delaying the inevitable. With this win India grabbed 12 points and are placed second on the ICC Ranking table. Ahead of India are Australia with a rating of 119 compared to India’s 116.
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