174/10 (65.0)
CRR : 2.68
574/8 (129.2)
CRR : 4.44
India won by an innings and 222 runs 🏆
Player of the Match
Player
5/41 & 4/46175(228)
Over 60
Sri Lanka 178/10
Niroshan Dickwella51(81)
Ravichandran Ashwin4-47(21.0)
IND won by an innings and 222 runs
Team India clinch another Test victory at home as they beat Sri Lanka inside three days by a mammoth margin of an innings and 222 runs. Ravindra Jadeja was the hero in both the innings both with the bat and the ball. Skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss in his maiden Test as skipper and elected to bat first.
Team India posted a huge total of 574-8 and declared their innings on day two. Ravindra Jadeja made a mega comeback to Test cricket posting his second Test century, a brilliant unbeaten 175. He was supported well by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant (96 off 97), R Ashwin (61) and Hanuma Vihari (58) who was batting at number 3 for the first time in Test cricket.
Team India followed that total with an excellent bowling performance in the first innings, bundling out Sri Lanka early on day 3 for 174 and enforced the follow on. Jadeja and Ashwin were the stars with the ball as well as they picked seven wickets between them with the left arm spinner achieving the rare double of scoring a hundred and picking up a fifer in the same Test inning.
The pair continued this performance in the second innings as well and picked up eight wickets between them with Jadeja (4-46) and Ashwin picking up figures of 4-47. Mohammed Shami bowled a couple of good spells and chipped in with the two remaining wickets.
There was some resistance on display from the Sri Lanka batters in the second innings as returning wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella scored a brilliant unbeaten 51 off 81 deliveries but lacked a partner on the other end.
The biggest partnership of the Lankan second innings was between Dhananjaya de Silva and Angelo Mathews for the fourth wicket when the duo added 49 runs. The Indian spinners then made a supreme comeback and bundled out Sri Lanka for 178 to go 1-0 up in the two match series with Ashwin surpassing Kapil Dev's tally of 434 Test wickets to become the second leading wicket taker in Tests for India after Anil Kumble. Ashwin has now 436 wickets to his name.
Stay tuned for the presentation ceremony.
There was some resistance on display from the Sri Lanka batters in the second innings as returning wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella scored a brilliant unbeaten 51 off 81 deliveries but lacked a partner on the other end.
The biggest partnership of the Lankan second innings was between Dhananjaya de Silva and Angelo Mathews for the fourth wicket when the duo added 49 runs. The Indian spinners then made a supreme comeback and bundled out Sri Lanka for 178 to go 1-0 up in the two match series with Ashwin surpassing Kapil Dev's tally of 434 Test wickets to become the second leading wicket taker in Tests for India after Anil Kumble. Ashwin has now 436 wickets to his name.
Stay tuned for the presentation ceremony.
Ravichandran Ashwin: "I think Jadeja has come a long way with his batting in the last 4-5 years, he is batting at a low number according to his talents, he knows exactly what he is doing. Haha, actually in between we realized Jayant has not bowled a lot, for someone who is the 3rd spinner in the team and Rohit agreed. Jaddu agreed he will give him a go from his end where it was spinning a bit more, we wanted to give him a bit of exposure. I had good 4 weeks off, during that time I wanted to work on my batting a bit. I was thankful I got into good positions and glad it came through! The surface was a good one, it was not easy to get the batters out. I thought they created consistent pressure where there was not much enough spin, the pacers bowled their heart out and helped us in claiming this victory."
Time for the post match presentation.
DImuth Karunaratne: "Yes I think, we didn't think it would end by Day 3 but the batters didn't put enough runs on the board. India are a tough team and we have to take our chances. No I did not think it was a wrong call, we wanted to back ourselves and thought the wicket would be up and down on Day 3 and 4, that's why we went with 3 seamers. The calculation was mistaken, we were a bit too defensive and sometimes too attacking, we should have been better with our strike rotation, that's the only way we can play a big innings. As a batting unit we have to put our hands up for the next test, we played well for the first two sessions but then it went wrong. We hope to come back strongly in the next test."
Rohit Sharma: "It was a good game for us as a team perspective. We ticked all the boxes that we wanted to. I never thought it's going to be that kind of a Test match that would end in three days. The pitch was good for the batters and had some turn and bounce for the bowlers. The spinners and the seamers bowled in tandem and kept the pressure on their batters. From our side, we just wanted to make sure that we keep applying the pressure from both ends. Good signs for Indian cricket, lot of performances and a landmark Test for Virat. We all wanted to get the job done and win the Test match. And the performances from the individuals was very heartening to see. Just made sure that we utilized all the bowling options as well. Jadeja-Ashwin have bowled well in India and we wanted Jayant to bowl in case the other two are not available. Jadeja showed maturity with the bat and finished unbeaten. There were few questions whether to declare or not but it was the team's decision and Jadeja's decision which shows how selfless he is as a player. Not many guys have the experience of playing a day-night Test in India. We will see how the pitch rolls out and then we will take the call."
Ravindra Jadeja is the player of the match.
Ravindra Jadeja: "I would say this is my lucky ground. Whenever I come here, I get good support. I was looking to build partnership with Rishabh, the way he was going after the bowlers. I was just standing at the other end and watching the show. To be honest, I don't care about any stats. But I am happy that I scored some runs for the team and also picked up wickets. It is a confidence booster for me and for the team and feels very nice. I have done nothing differently. I play with my instinct and back my strengths. I give myself more time to settle down and after settling down I just watch the ball and play my shots. I haven't played with the SG Pink ball and it will be interesting to practice and play with it. The SG ball has been good for the spinners in red and hopefully it does well in pink as well."
That's it folks for the 1st Test match between India and Sri Lanka. Virat's 100th, Rohit's 1st as Test Captain, Jaddu's magic, it is now time to celebrate for the Indian fans! I am Anirudh, signing off on behalf of my co-commentators Arya and Ninaad, along with our scorer Zeeshan! Do join us for the 2nd Test live in a few days!