While it was not quite a case of India simply turning up and walking away with a win — they did everything right from putting big scores on the board to bowling with discipline to taking the catches that came their way
Kohli poses with the winner's trophy yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
When R Ashwin flicked a carrom ball through the gate to dismiss Sri Lanka's last batsman, the hosts were still 71 runs away from making India bat a second time and the third Test had ended with comfortably more than two days to spare. History, as Virat Kohli reminded his boys, had been made, with India completing their first overseas 3-0 sweep.
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While it was not quite a case of India simply turning up and walking away with a win — they did everything right from putting big scores on the board to bowling with discipline to taking the catches that came their way — Sri Lanka hardly put up a fight worthy of the opposition.
Mohammad Shami had his tail up, almost literally blasting out three Sri Lankan batsmen while Ashwin went one better, picking up 4 for 68 as Sri Lanka were bowled out for only 181. So complete was India's domination in the series that they were not really playing the opposition by the end of it. As Kohli revealed the challenge was more an inner one. "In the last game we enforced the follow on but we did not execute the things that we wanted to the best of our abilities," said Kohli.
Team India skipper Virat Kohli (second from left) celebrates with teammates after winning the third Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy yesterday. Pic/AP,PTI
"This time we took it as an opportunity, we spoke about it in the morning, treat this as Day Five of an away tour, probably a series-defining Test match where we'll have to get an opposition out within 60-70 overs, so take that attitude on the field and try to wrap up things and understand how that can be done. So we keep finding different situations and scenarios where we can challenge ourselves."
If India's ship sailed smoothly through the calm waters of this series, Dinesh Chandimal, appointed captain after Angelo Matthews stepped down, could not find one positive. After all, a merely 11 days of play happened in this series, and as many as five of those were consumed by India batting three completed innings and a bit.
"There's no doubt this has been the toughest series of my career," said Chandimal. "The reason being that we were not able to take the games to five days. There have been four-day Tests and three-day Tests. Worst series ever."
What will please Kohli no end is that the win took India's series win streak to eight, and even as India switch to limited-overs mode, they will rest easy in the knowledge that their next Test opponents are this very same Sri Lankan team. And that is back home in India. Why should he not be basking in the afterglow of victory and licking his lips at the prospect of what lies ahead?
2 No. of times Sri Lanka have been whitewashed at home in a series of three or more matches
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