Rohit Sharma’s Test captaincy got off to an extraordinary start as India beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 222 runs. This is India’s second-largest win against Sri Lanka in Test cricket and fifth largest overall. On Day 3, Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja turned out to be too good for Sri Lankan batters as they lost 16 wickets on a spin-friendly Mohali wicket.
Ravindra Jadeja delivered record performance as he scored unbeaten 175 in first innings followed by a fifer in one innings and a four-wicket haul in the second. Jadeja was adjudged ‘player of the match’ for his extraordinary performance in Virat Kohli’s 100th Test.
Jadeja haunts visitors
Starting the day at 108/4, Pathum Nissanka and Charith Asalanka resisted Indian bowlers for almost an hour in the first session. Jasprit Bumrah got the first wicket of the day by trapping Asalanka in front of the stumps. Asalanka's wicket started an epic batting collapse. Comeback man Niroshan Dickwella became Jadeja's first victim of the day.
The Sri Lankan tail did not wag at all as Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Embuldeniya, Vishwa Fernando and Lahiru Kumar got out without troubling the scorers. Jadeja completed his record fifer to equal former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi's record. On the other end, Nissanka remained unbeaten for 61 off 133 deliveries. Sri Lanka were bundled out for 174/10 in 65 overs.
Rohit enforces follow on
Rohit, on his Test captaincy debut, enforced the follow on instead of . This time Rohit introduced spin right away. Ashwin opened the bowling and soon enough got the wicket of opener Lahiru Thirimanne. Half-centurion of first innings, Nissanka, failed to make an impact as he got out for just 6 runs.
Poor start
Karunaratne looked in control at start but was undone by Mohammed Shami with a brilliant delivery from around the wicket.
Sri Lankan middle order got decent starts but failed to convert them into big scores. Angelo Mathews and Dhananjaya de Silva became Jadeja;s victims whereas Ashwin got rid of Asalanka. The 24-year-old inexperienced batter tried to take the attacking route but could only manage a 9-ball 20 cameo before Ashwin got rid of him. India’s veteran off-spinner also surpassed former Indian captain to become the second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.
Dickwella’s lone fight
After a disappointing score in the first innings, Dickwella tried to delay the inevitable but Jadeja got the wicket of Lakmal and Embuldeniya. The Sri Lankan left-arm spinner did show some ressistance as he stayed at the crease for 42 deliveries but Jadeja manage to get an outside edge of his bat by coming round the wicket. Shami came back into the attack as well and got rid of Fernando. Dickwella provided some entertainment with Lahiru Kumara on the other end but the latter got out trying to take on Ashwin. Dickwella remained unbeatne for 51. The wicketkeeper-batter's innings included nine boundaries.
India post mammoth total
Earlier, Rohit won the toss and elected to bat first. Indian openers did not fire and got out after decent starts. Replacing veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari scored a patient 58. In his 100th Test, Kohli batted well and at one point it seemed like that he will go on to get the much-awaited big score but Embuldeniya set him up nicely to dismiss for 45. Rishabh Pant got promoted up the order and hit Sri Lankan bowlers around the mark. However, he missed his fifth Test century by just four runs as he got bowled by Lakmal with the second new ball. Playing his third Test, Iyer got out after playing himself in as well. It was the partnership between Jadeja and Ashwin that frustrated the visitors. The two put on a 130-run partnership. Ashwin scored 61 runs from 82 deliveries whereas Jadeja went on to score an unbeaten 175, the highest score by a no.7 batter in the format surpassing former Indian skipper Kapil Dev. He had support from no.10 batter Mohammed Shami. Rohit declared India's first innings at 574/8 in the second session of Day 2.
