In the third and final Test against West Indies, Sri Lanka registered a historic win at the Kensington Oval on June 25.
Amid plenty of drama, Sri Lanka chased down the target of 144 runs on the fourth day and defeated the hosts by 4 wickets. They not only levelled the series 1-1 but also became the first Asian nation to win a Test match in Barbados.
The fourth day began with a ray of hope for West Indies as skipper Jason Holder dismissed Kusal Mendis (25) in the opening over of the first session. The Lankans were reduced to 81 for 6 and were still 63 runs shy of the target.
Kusal Perera joined Dilruwan Perera at the crease and both took the team forward with a relative ease. The duo stitched a partnership of 63-runs which kept the West Indian bowling attack at bay.
The hosts probably regret not withstanding the Lankan bowling during the second innings, even after taking a 50-run lead in the first. Unfortunately, heroics of the West Indian captain—74 runs in first innings and 9 wickets in the match —went into vain as his efforts weren’t enough to restrict the guests from taking the game home.
Stand-in skipper Suranga Lakmal had a terrific captaincy debut as Sri Lanka scripted history after winning the game in Barbados. Before this game, four captains from Asia—Imran Khan (1988), Wasim Akram (1993), Sourav Ganguly (2002), MS Dhoni (2011) and Misbah-ul-Haq (2017)—faltered to win a Test match for their respective nations at this venue.