Shreyas Iyer was named man of the match; Rishabh Pant was player of the series after two half-centuries and numerous dismissals after stumps in the two Tests; India have now extended their winning streak at home to 15 Test heats
India’s captain Rohit Sharma (L) celebrates on the pitch with his teammate Jasprit Bumrah.
India extended their winning streak at home to 15 Test heats by beating Sri Lanka by 238 runs in the second Test. The victory concluded the day and night match in Bengaluru on day three secured the two test series 2-0.
With the tourists chasing a daunting target of 447 for victory after India declared 303-9, their skipper Dimuth Karunaratne fought hard to make his 14th Test Ton (107), but the wickets fell regularly and were eliminated by 208.
India won the first test in Mohali by one innings and 222 runs in three days and Rohit Sharma’s team repeated the feat in Bengaluru when Sri Lanka were eliminated in the second session.
“It’s been a good run and I’ve enjoyed it personally and as a team. We wanted to achieve some things as a team and we’ve achieved that,” said Rohit.
“It’s only the third day and night test in India, so we’re still learning how to handle these conditions. The crowd that came back and celebrated with us has been really nice.”
Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis had worn themselves out in the first session and together they survived a couple of edges to bring out the top pair of the Sri Lanka series (97), while Mendis also brought out his half-century.
However, Sri Lanka then lost three wickets for eight runs as India took over.
India made the breakthrough when spinner Ravichandran Ashwin goaded Mendis (54) into dancing down the rink, and the batsman misjudged the line as Pant picked up the ball and quickly cleared the bails.
Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka’s leading scorer in the first innings, lasted just five balls as Ravindra Jadeja broke through his defense to bring down the stump of his leg as Ashwin struck again to catch Dhananjaya de Silva on the short front leg.
Karunaratne put together another 50-run position with Niroshan Dickwella before India’s Axar Patel came on the scene in the second session and opened the doors to the lower order with two wickets.
He first stumped Dickwella identically to Mendis’ dismissal before Charith Asalanka gave Rohit Sharma an easy catch on the short leg back to leave Sri Lanka at 180-6.
Despite the circumstances, Karunaratne allowed himself a smile as he mentioned a well-crafted century, with the crowd at Stadium M Chinnaswamy giving him a standing ovation.
“I would have been happier if we had won the match. Once I got in I knew I could get a big one,” Karunaratne said.
“We know we’re a decent team. We didn’t get off to enough good starts to capitalize. As a bowling unit, we gave up too many fumbles.”
But his stay in the crease was cut short shortly thereafter when Bumrah tore off his middle stump with a pitch that slipped through the gap between bat and bag.
Suranga Lakmal, playing in his final test, was sent back when Jasprit Bumrah eliminated him and the entire India team came over to shake hands with the 35-year-old veteran as he walked away.
Ashwin collected the final wicket from Vishwa Fernando and his figures of 4-55 moved him up to eighth on the all-time list for most wickets (442 wickets).
India’s Shreyas Iyer was named man of the match for his two half centuries, while goalkeeper and batsman Rishabh Pant was the man of the series.
