Bengaluru: India wrapped up Sri Lanka’s second innings on the third day after winning the second cricket Test played with the pink ball by 238 runs to win the series 2.0. Winning the two Tests gave India 24 points but Rohit Sharma’s team remains fifth in the World Championship table due to a loss of percentage points. India has 77 points.
Chasing a daunting target of 447 to win, Sri Lanka batted well in the opening session of the third day but faced the Indian bowlers on a pitch with turns and uneven bounce. Dimuth Karunaratne scored 107 runs for the Sri Lankan team, playing ahead of his yesterday’s score of 28 runs for one wicket.
Sri Lanka was bowled out for 208 in the second innings after tea. Left-handed batsman Karunaratne completed his 14th Test century by hitting Jasprit Bumrah for a four. It took him some time to settle down at the crease but later he played with ease. Bumrah took three wickets for 23 runs. In the match, he managed to take eight wickets for 47 runs. He took five wickets in an innings for the first time on his soil.
Ravichandran Ashwin took four, Axar Patel took two and Ravindra Jadeja took one. India had earlier won both the pink ball Tests on their soil. Bangladesh was defeated by the Indian team in Kolkata in 2019 and England in Ahmedabad in 2021 in day-night Tests. Earlier, Mendis and Karunaratne started playing with confidence.
Mendis in particular looked quite comfortable as he completed his half-century with a run-off Jadeja. However, he fell victim to Ashwin and got caught behind the wicket. Both Mendis and Karunaratne used their feet very well to take on the Indian spinners. Mendis performed effectively on the front and back feet. His dismissal also broke the 96-run partnership of the second wicket.
Jadeja sent Angelo Mathews (one) and Ashwin to Dhananjay de Silva (four). Karunaratne was given caught behind the wicket by Jadeja but he took the DRS which clearly showed that the ball hit his thigh pad and went into Pant’s hand. He completed his half-century by taking one run off Axar Patel.
