India's batsmen plundered runs and spin spearhead Ravichandran Ashwin got among the wickets against Sri Lanka but it was the resurgence of paceman Ishant Sharma that probably pleased captain Virat Kohli most ahead of their tour of South Africa. Sri Lanka had lost 9-0 to India across all formats a few months back and were therefore never expected to provide the ideal preparation for what will be a challenging trip to South Africa for the world's top-ranked test team. After the rain-curtailed opening match at Kolkata's Eden Gardens ended in a draw, Kohli's men crushed the visitors by an innings and 239 runs in the second test, matching their biggest winning margin in the longest format.

Ishant Sharma