Indian star batsmen Virat Kohli registers his First Test Series win as a captain. Thanks to 4-fer antics from Ashwin, India manages to win the series from Sri Lankan Squad after 22 long years. This is also India’s first overseas Test series Victory since it’s win against West Indies in 2011.
Elated Indian team walks out of the pitch with Ishant and Pujara. After putting to bat first, As regular opener Murali Vijay was injured, Cheteshwar Pujara was asked to open the batting, in what was his comeback Test. The Saurashtrian batsman responded in style and in fact anchored the innings with an unbeaten 145. In doing so, Pujara became the 4th Indian batsmen to play throughout the innings. Amith Mishra made a useful 50 while contributing a century partnership with Pujara.
In reply, Sri Lanka were knocked over for 201 as Ishant Sharma bagged his 7th five-wicket haul in Tests. India played a patient second innings where Rohit, Binny and Ashwin scored some handfuls. With a complete team effort India manages to cling the SSC Test with a 117 run margin. No wonder Virat is on Cloud 9
Ashwin was the brightest spot for India in the series. He bowled very well throughout and fittingly finished as the highest wicket-taker in the series. Although his show with the bat was below-par, after being demoted down the order, he responded in style with a fifty in the second innings at the SSC. It has to be noted that with Kohli’s theory to play 5 bowlers, Ashwin, who can bat, plays a key role low down the order. Amit Mishra displayed good all-round abilities. While he was impressive with the ball, he showed a lot of courage with the bat, which came as a pleasant surprise. He scored over 150 runs, which included a crucial fifty in the first innings at the SSC.
‘Being 0-1 down is never easy, we’ve created a bit of history, credit to the whole squad, even to the guys who have not played – Bhuvneshwar, Aaron and even Harbhajan, who is such a senior member of the squad, but still kept helping the boys. It’s a collective effort and we can be really proud of the way we’ve come back in this series. Feels nice to have created a bit of history, especially with a young team. I think it’s a magnificent milestone for all of us and gain some confidence from here on. Injuries do frustrate the team, but the attitude of the squad and the management was brilliant. It’s been a combined effort. If you take Pujara, he looked at this as an opportunity rather than a difficulty. That’s the change of mindset we are going through right now. Feels amazing to win the series 2-1 after being 0-1 down in Galle. Yes, there are areas that we can improve on, but we can count the number of sessions in one hand where we have not done well. We need to pat ourselves on the back for the way we played in the series. It’s never easy to win away from home. The kind of attitude and the character that the team has shown, I can be really proud of the boys,’ Virat said at presentation ceremony.
With this win India climb up the ladder in Test Rankings to occupy 5th spot.
