The Indians were made to toil under the baking Colombo sun but they eventually earned their fruits of hard labour, clinching a rare and precious second away series win over Sri Lanka here on Tuesday.
Left frustrated by a pugnacious century from skipper Angelo Mathews (110 runs, 240b, 13x4) and a second straight gem from debutante wicketkeeper Kusal Perera (70, 106b, 11x4) for nearly the entire second session that almost threatened to take the match away from them, the Indians came roaring back in the post-tea period to dismiss the Sri Lankans for 268 and script a brilliant 117-run win in the third and final Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground.
Spinner R Ashwin bagged four wickets, including the much-needed breakthrough of Perera just minutes before tea, while pacer Ishant Sharma (3/32) delivered the crushing blow to the hosts’ remarkable fightback in evicting Mathews as the Indians completed a superb 2-1 turnaround series triumph. Virat Kohli’s men thus joined the illustrious league of Mohd Azharuddin’s team, which was the only other Indian side to beat the Lankans in their own den way back in 1993. This was also the first time an Indian side had come down from 0-1 down to win a Test series abroad, leaving Kohli’s young brigade a joyful lot.
Joining hands with his skipper with this team in dire straits at 107/5 after overnight batsmen Kaushal Silva and Lahiru Thirmanne perished midway through the first session, Perera injected life into the Lankans innings.
Mathews, who was lucky to be at crease after Ashwin missed a simple run out chance when the Lankans had just lost Silva and were tottering at 83/4, combined brilliantly with the young Perera. Mathews, leading from the front, played the anchor role to perfection, while Perera mixed caution with aggression to keep the hosts’ heart beating.
Barring that run out chance, Mathews hardly presented the toiling Indians any chance. His defence was rock-solid and realising his need to stay at the middle as long as possible if his team wanted to walk out with a stunning draw, he curbed all his attacking instincts as the Indians found it hard to breach him.
Perera, another naturally attacking player, too bucked the trend and chose to keep things tight. With the ball turning soft, the Indian pacers tiring and the pitch easing a bit under the sweltering sun, Perera and Mathews then began to play their shots as the second session wore on.
Runs kept coming at a fast clip and skipper Kohli started to wear a worried look as spinners Ashwin and Amit Mishra failed to get the expected purchase and Stuart Binny too began to be carted around. With things going their way, Perera brought his second half-century of the match as the deficit began to be trimmed down.
The Indians then were left a disappointed lot when umpire Nigel Llong ruled Mathews not out after the Sri Lankan was struck flush in front of the stumps with the ball seemingly headed towards middle and leg. Mathews, however, didn’t allow that to get the better of him and brought up his seventh Test century, cutting Binny to the boundary and sending the fans and dressing room into raptures.
Amidst the celebrations, Perera suffered a brain freeze a little later to gift his wicket to the Indians and with it the match and series four overs before tea. After watching his skipper execute the reverse sweep, Perera too tried one of them and ended up offering Rohit Sharma a simple catch at backward point, bringing an end to a brilliant 135-run association.
The Indians then returned for the final session with spring in their strides. Taking the second new ball at the first over of asking, Ishant hammered the crucial nail in Lanka’s coffin when he trapped Mathews leg-before with a fast and full delivery. The Sri Lankan walked back dejectedly while the Indians erupted, knowing they were on the threshold of securing a place among an elite company. The Sri Lankan tail too didn’t want to delay the inevitable as one after the other swung their bats and departed.
The victorious moment then came when Nuwan Pradeep failed to read Mishra googly, trapping himself leg-before. The Indians rushed for the stumps as souvenir before forming a huddle to celebrate a rare moment in their lives.
Score board
INDIA (I Innings): 312
SRI LANKA (I Innings): 201
INDIA (II Innings): 274
SRI LANKA (II Innings, O/n: 67/3):
Tharanga c Ojha b Ishant 0
(7b)
Silva c Pujara b Yadav 27
(50b, 4x4)
Karunaratne c Ojha b Yadav 0
(7b)
Chandimal c Kohli b Ishant 18
(17b)
Mathews lbw Ishant 110
(240b, 13x4)
Thirimanne c Rahul b Ashwin 12
(47b)
Perera c Rohit b Ashwin 70
(106b, 11x4)
Herath lbw Ashwin 11
(23b, 2x4)
Kaushal (not out) 1
(14b)
Prasad c Binny b Ashwin 6
(4b, 1x4)
Pradeep lbw Mishra 0
(2b)
Extras (B-4, LB-2, NB-7) 13
Total (all out, 85 overs) 268
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Tharanga), 2-2 (Karunaratne), 3-21 (Chandimal), 4-74 (Silva), 5-107 (Thirimanne), 6-242 (Perera), 7-249 (Mathews), 8-257 (Herath), 9-263 (Prasad).
Bowling: Ishant 19-5-32-3 (nb-4), Yadav 15-3-65-2, Binny 13-3-49-0, Mishra 18-1-47-1 (nb-3), Ashwin 20-2-69-4.