SL VS IND - 2nd Test, India tour of Sri Lanka, 2017

It spun like there's no tomorrow but we have had four days of pristine Test cricket. As they say, a pitch can only be so satanic. Sri Lanka victimized themselves with a bone-dry pitch, lost the toss, and yielded like a paper ball, until that second innings rearguard lent some credibility to the contest which wasn't. India, though, had enough head start for their first ever innings win in Sri Lanka but go to Pallekele with much skepticism. Hope you enjoyed the coverage. Your commentator Pratyush Sinha takes leave with his able colleagues: Pradeep, Akshay Maanay, Abhishek Chaudhary, Sreenivas Varala and Shashikant Singh. Rake in the Sunday joys, ta-ta!

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Some numbers by Deepu Narayanan

- This was India's first win by an innings in SL. Overall it is their eight win in SL - the most for them in a visiting nation. Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to win two Test series in Sri Lanka.

Most consecutive series wins for a team:
9 Aus (Oct 2005 - Jun 2008)
8 Eng (Jul 1884 - Mar 1892)
8 Ind (Aug 2015 - present)*

Three wins for India at an away venue:
Queens Park Oval, Port of Spain (1971, 1976, 2002)
Sinhalese Sports Club, Colombo (1993, 2015, 2017)

- 50 catches for Rahane in 39 Tests - second fastest to the landmark among Indian fielders after Eknath Solkar's 26 Tests.

- Dimuth Karunaratne became the first SL batsman to score two 100s following on and it was also the first time two SL batsmen scoring 100s in the same innings while following on.

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Kohli - captain, India: "Well, the way the wicket behaved when Sri Lanka batted first prompted that decision to enforce the follow-on. I'm not a big fan of it, especially when the wicket is breaking down like that. Even 150 in the fourth innings can be tough. You don't want to leave chances but here, we felt we had enough. We are playing Tests at international level and we expect teams to play like (Sri Lanka did). Today, we said, even if we don't get wickets, we will enjoy the tough times. It improves you as a side. We are happy that we went through the difficult place; helps you not get complacent as a side. Saha is definitely the best keeper in this format right now. He's very agile and can create chances at any stage. Pujara and Rahane are our best Test players, KL played well too, and Jadeja contributed lower down the order. Pandya contributed too. For us, it's about taking Indian cricket ahead."

Chandimal - captain, Sri Lanka: "To be honest, you can't control the toss. We were outplayed in the first innings, with the bat and ball. Credit to them. But really happy with the way the guys played in the second innings. We want to take positives out of this game. Yeah, you can tell now (that we could have played two fast bowlers). Unfortunately, Angelo doesn't bowl at the moment, so we cannot get the right balance. He's (Asela Gunaratne) been consistent in the last one and a half years. Hoping someone else will take the opportunity."

Jadeja - Man of the Match: "In the first innings, the ball wasn't turning when we were batting. But then it started turning from the middle part of the wicket. Mendis played very well, played some brilliant shots. As a team, I think we also played good cricket. If the batsman is playing sweep regularly, it's always a challenge. We have to change the line and lengths."

Okay, sun's out for the presentations.

'Twas a good toss to win for India. Pujara and Rahane's centuries were helped by four other half-centuries, as India pumped on 622/9 dec. in that first innings capped by the neverending declaration wait. In reply, Sri Lanka were no match to India's spin, collapsing to 183 to follow-on for only the third time at home. And just when an easy win beckoned India, Sri Lanka called upon the Hayden ghosts, sweeping their way to a point where a Galle redux looked plausible. And then Jadeja got one to kick up and munched on a defiant Karunaratne.

Harsha Bhogle: Huffing and puffing and almost there. Well, eventually India go up 2-0 and get the series. Had to work hard but the better team won. Very interesting track. Seemed a minefield but runs were scored on it and bowlers had to work hard in 2 out of 3 innings

02:35pm local: If there has ever been a win in a loss, this is it. Sri Lanka's inspiring fightback comes to an end, but not before baking India's foreheads with sweat. A gargantuan lead of 439 in the first innings reeked of doom, with the daily mornings even casting this as a prelude to Sri Lanka's dramatic, perhaps inevitable, windfall. But here they are, the home side, riding on Dimuth Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis' stunningly brave centuries to hold their heads high in an innings defeat. That's how proud you want to be going to bed.

Ashwin to Pradeep, out Caught by Dhawan!! Series win for India, their eighth in a row. Ashwin flights this one, Pradeep sweeps.. only to top-edge this to mid-on. Pradeep c Dhawan b Ashwin 1(9)

Ashwin to Pradeep, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Ashwin to Pradeep, no run, back to an offbreak and Pradeep blocks from the crease

Ashwin to Pradeep, no run, India review.. It's a carrom ball from Ashwin that drifts across. Looks like it's pitched outside leg before pinging the pad, beating the inside edge. Snicko corroborates the fact that there's no bat there. Now to ball-tracking, and the ball has in fact pitched down leg

Ashwin to Pradeep, no run, drags the sweep here

Ashwin to Pradeep, no run, woah. Carrom ball drifting across and then spinning the other way to take the leading edge. Falls in front of Ashwin..

Hardik Pandya to Herath, no run, goes wide and fires it full. Blocked

Hardik Pandya to Pradeep, 1 run, could be a deliberate low full toss but Pradeep gets some bat behind for a single into the leg-side

Hardik Pandya to Pradeep, wide, wide for height. Short ball to plonk him back to crease and all..

Hardik Pandya to Pradeep, no run, front foot goes no where but the hand does. Stops just as he sees the ball arrive late off the pitch, and dead-bats it