New Delhi: India secured first ever whitewash (3-0) on foreign soil as they beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 170 runs in the third Test match at Pallekele on Sunday.
This is also the 8th successive Test series win under Virat Kohli having started the juggernaut in 2015 in Sri Lanka (away) followed by South Africa (home), West Indies (away), New Zealand (home), England (home), Bangladesh (Home), Australia (home) and now Sri Lanka (away).
The hosts, who were forced to follow on were all out for 135 runs in their first innings and were bowled out for 181 in the second innings
For India, star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bagged 4 wickets while fast bowler Mohammed Shami scalped 3 wickets and Umesh Yadav got two to his name
Starting at the overnight score of 19/1, Sri Lanka were off a horrible start, losing three wickets within the first hour of play. The hosts were reduced to 39/4 before Chandimal and Mathews started their fight back.
This is the first ever instance that the entire Sri Lankan top order has been dismissed within 50 runs in both innings of a Test match against India.
The hosts suffered their first jolt in the third over of the day when overnight batsman Dimuth Karunaratne was outfoxed by the extra bounce of an Ashwin delivery. The ball brushed the gloves before being caught by Ajinkya Rahane in the slips.
Malinda Pushpakumara patiently battled 32 deliveries for his one run before being caught behind off Shami's bowling. The right-hander was repeatedly beaten outside the off-stump by Shami, by managed to survive somehow.
His luck finally ran out when he came on the front foot to a fuller length delivery on the off-stump line, only to see the ball knick the outside edge of the bat on its way into the gloves of Indian wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Shami then sent back Kusal Mendis in his next over to put the Sri Lankans in deep trouble.
It was the most experienced pair of Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews that showed some grit as they stitched 63 runs together before Chandimal departed on 35 and Mathews was joined by Dickwella in the middle.
Dickwella played a beautiful knock in crunch situation but it was too late as the host had already lost the ground and were staring another humiliating defeat.
After dominating the entire Test series, India will now play Sri Lanka in the limited over format, with 5 ODI’s and one-off T20 scheduled to conclude the series.
The first ODI will be played in Dambulla on August 20.