VICTORY TO TEAM INDIA AFTER 22 YEARS

Clinching an away series against Sri Lanka after 22 years is a "magnificent milestone".

India beats the hosts by 117 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground, Colombo on Tuesday and made a strong comeback by winning back to back tests.In a basement room at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the India captain addressed a last press conference of the Test series. Virat Kohli looked tired after leading the team in a match they almost lost because his bowlers conceded 200-plus runs in the last session on day four.

Virat Kohli as a captain

It was in sharp contrast to Adelaide, where Kohli had led India for the first time. There he had almost tasted victory, crusading alone, on the might of his bat. In Sydney, he found out that this job wasn’t going to be so easy.. “We need to find more discipline in the bowling attack, and build pressure,” was the theme of his press conference.

Seven months later, Kohli sat in a first floor room at the Sinhalese Sports Club and Kohli attributed India’s first series win in 22 years to the bowling unit, with good reason. The bowlers had taken all sixty wickets to beat Sri Lanka 2-1 It is a remarkable achievement, however you look at it.
Kohli talked about seizing moments that mattered, particularly in the last two Tests so that they could overturn the shocking result in Galle. Two passages of play hold great importance here.

Srilanka’s Performance

At the P Sara Oval, on day three morning, the pitc had evened out nicely for the batsmen. Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne got going and added 84 runs without losing a wicket. They weren’t on top because the Indian attack didn’t let them cut loose, yet it was an all-too familiar situation. On their previous tours to South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia, India had suffered through many such sessions and lost discipline thereafter, never stitching together pressure from both ends.
It was the same at the SSC on day five as India searched for a series win. Mathews, again, and debutant Kusal Perera batted beautifully in the middle session on a pitch that was getting better for batsmen as the match progressed. They added 135 runs at a rate of 3.5 per over but India did not panic. As tea approached, the bowlers dried up the runs and Perera threw away his wicket with an ill-timed reverse sweep.

Bowlers Contribution

In both these circumstances, Ishant Sharma did the trick with the second new ball. He might have gotten himself suspended for unnecessary theatrics, But let it also be said that he bowled with a certain hostility throughout the series.But, in these sub-continental conditions, Ishant was never going to be the most lethal bowler. That is where R Ashwin stepped into the picture. He worked out a rhythm in the first innings at Galle and never let go off it. In every innings, there was at least one particular spell wherein the batsmen were unable to handle him. Every single delivery looked as if a grenade had been lobbed, the ball bursting off the pitch. Such was his potency against left-handers in particular that he dismissed Lahiru Thirimanne and Kumar Sangakkara eight out of a possible ten times.