Rohit-led India pocketed another series sweep, this time two-match Test series against Sri Lanka as they won the second match by 238 runs on Monday (March 14) at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru. With this emphatic victory, India gained 12 crucial ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points to remain fourth in the table as their Point of Percentage (POP) remained 58.33. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka slumped to fifth after their flop show with a POP of 50. The top four teams are Australia (77.77%), Pakistan (66.66%) and South Africa (60.00%), respectively.
With this win, India have strengthened their position in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC). India need to continue their good job in the longest format to make it to the top two and qualify for the final of the WTC.
New Zealand, the defending champions, are reeling at the sixth place and it seems things are not going well for them in this edition of the World Test Championship.
Meanwhile, India extinguished whatever little spark Sri Lanka showed and wrapped up the second Test inside three days for a comprehensive 238-run win, completing a 2-0 whitewash of the Islanders.
A herculean task at hand, Sri Lanka took the field on the third day with a lot of determination but it was always going to be tough to negotiate the Indian attack on a track that has been offering turn and uneven bounce from day one.
Resuming at 28 for one in pursuit of an improbable 447-run target, the Sri Lankan batters, led by skipper Dimuth Karunaratne (107), resisted the Indian attack for some time before folding for 208 in the post-tea session.
"It's been a good run, and I have enjoyed it personally and as a team. We wanted to achieve a few things as a team, and we have done that," skipper Rohit Sharma said after leading the team to a perfect result in his first series at the helm.
He spoke about the positives that emerged from the two-match series.
"We have seen Jadeja grow as a batter, and he seems to get better and better. Shreyas just carried on from where he left off in the T20 series against Sri Lanka. He knew he was stepping into the big shoes of guys like Rahane and Pujara, but he has everything that he requires. Rishabh seems to get better with each game that he plays," the skipper waxed eloquent.
India now have won all three pink-ball Tests at home, having beaten beating Bangladesh (in Kolkata, 2019) and England (in Ahmedabad, 2021) before.
