India won by an innings and 171 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Hardik Pandya
Batter
Bowler
It was expected to be a challenging tour, but no one could have dreamt of such a scenario after just 11 days of cricket. India were professional with both bat and ball, Sri Lanka weren't so, and the end result says itself. Eight consecutive series wins isn't something that can be sniggered at and Virat Kohli can be justifiably proud of his mates. He becomes the first Indian captain to register an overseas series whitewash (in a series consisting of at least three Tests). Hard Work awaits Sri Lanka as they prepare for tougher Tests away from home coming up. We are done with red-ball cricket, the two teams will now contest in a 5-match ODI series, starting from Sunday (August 20). Do join us for all the action. For now, on behalf of Sagar Chawla, Raju Peethala, MS Ramakrishnan, Siva , Shashikanth and the rest of the team who chipped in at various stages of the series, this is Pradeep signing off. Cheers and bye..
Virat Kohli is joined by his team-mates and they pose with the trophy.
***
Virat Kohli: "Good win for us. Very happy with the overall performance. Always feels nice to have convincing wins, pretty good day for us. The regulars have performed, but the biggest positive would be Hardik's inclusion and the way he shaped up in these three Test matches. The kind of confidence he showed the with the ball and the maturity with the bat, it really gives us a lot of boost and the balance. The usual suspects are always there and thereabouts. We are a young side, we look forward to play Test cricket, we look forward to play every single Test match with the same kind of excitement and that is the only way you can be ruthless. We like to be prepared before hand and be proactive rather than being reactive. We have age on our side and we have an opportunity to play together for five, six years for the country. All of them are super talented players (talking about the Sri Lankan team), that is why they are playing for the country. They beat Australia 3-0. Sometimes the side has momentum, sometimes they don't. It's all about keeping the belief going and not losing motivation because of a few results. That is what we believe in as a team as well."
Shikhar Dhawan (Man of the Series): "Before this series I was in Hong Kong enjoying the holiday (smiles). Unfortunately one of our openers was unfit and I got a chance to come over here and by the grace of god things went very well for me and got the Man of the Series award. I am enjoying my batting right now. I enjoy playing this was, this is my natural game (playing positive cricket). I have to keep performing well because we have tough competition for all the slots, so that is a great sign for Indian cricket. It keeps me on my toes."
Dinesh Chandimal: "You can't control the toss, but this was a tough series. Credit to India for playing outstanding cricket throughout the series. Our batting and bowling was below par. We need to stand up as a team. They scored 600 in each innings, so that is why we decided to play five bowlers. We have to be patient and concentrate harder (when batting or bowling). If we can do that, I am sure we will do as a team and comeback stronger for the Pakistan series."
Hardik Pandya (Man of the Match): "I am glad that I got my first hundred here, I didn't have a first-class hundred before coming here. The situation was pretty good for me when I went in and I knew that I could back my instincts. I have bowling as well and Test cricket is not an easy place to come and take a fifer. I have to keep working harder. I am pretty alright to bat wherever the teams wants me to. This team is pretty amazing. Everyone backs me to do well."
Kuldeep Yadav: Nice feeling, there were expectations from family and friends, happy that the match went through nicely. I think Kookaburra ball is more helpful for my style of bowling, the ball tends to skid a lot more and there's good drift. You can use that drift on overseas tours. Every game is important for me, playing as a youngster. Can't give excuses transitioning from red ball to the white ball. Looking forward to the ODI series. Virat Kohli was very supportive, we were communicating all the time regarding the field placements.
Sanjay Bangar: It's an honour to be working among the talent that we possess. The work ethic and the kind of effort they put in...you can't ask for more. Fine-tuning the techniques, maintaining the confidence and letting them have a free mind-set really worked for us. You need to plant a seed if you feel something might work for a player. Whether he is wiling to take it on board, there are players who will accept it and there are players who takes a bit of time to adjust, ultimately it's their choice to take it on board and adopt it in their game, The ability and hunger is really, really great. It all depends on who is flexible and who is not. There are a lot of areas we are really working on; like using the crease and taking a particular guard. All those things happen during the game. If there is a technical point or strategic point for a particular player to overcome a challenge, I think that helps.
Rahane: I played the wrong shot I had to admit, I used my feet well in the last game and I think I played a bad shot in this game. The best part about him (Sanjay Bangar) is he keeps things really simple he always backs us and asks us to go and express ourselves on the field. The guys who aren't doing well, he takes them out for dinner and makes them feel better. Couple of days off and then I'll think about my one day plan. We have got a very good bunch. For me it is about keeping it simple and doing my best for the team.
Pujara: We have been scoring good runs together (with Rahane). We've played enough cricket together. We've played for Indian Oil and even there we've had big partnerships. When it comes to preparation, he always believes in it. Once we tick-marked all the boxes in preparation, then we trust in our abilities. The best part about this batting unit is that we trust in our processes. We've got a couple of overseas tours coming up. We'll be playing Sri Lanka in India, but after that we are going to South Africa and in 2018 we'll go to England. We definitely would like to succeed and win series overseas too. I'd like to play some more county matches. Those county games did help me. As a batsman you improve on those challenging pitches.
***
Stats round-up by Deepu Narayanan:
SL losing a home Test inside three days:
v Pak, Kandy, 1994
v Eng, Colombo(SSC), 2001
v Pak, Kandy, 2006
v Ind, Pallekele, 2017 *
Whitewashes at home (3+ Tests):
SA v Eng, 1896
NZ v Eng, 1963
Eng v WI, 1984 (5 Tests)
NZ v Aus, 2000
SL v Aus, 2004
SA v Aus, 2006
SL v Ind, 2017 *
Whitewashes for India (3+ Tests):
3-0 v Eng, 1993
3-0 v SL, 1994
4-0 v Aus, 2013
3-0 v NZ, 2016
3-0 v SL, 2017 (only one away from home)*
Three wins for India in an away series:
3-1 in NZ in 1968
3-0 in SL in 2017 *
Fifth successive loss for SL against India - the joint most in a row for them against an opponent
Biggest away wins for Ind:
Inns & 239 runs Dhaka, 2007
Inns & 171 runs Pallekele, 2017 *
Inns & 140 runs Dhaka, 2004
Inns & 131 runs Rawalpindi, 2004
Biggest home defeats for SL:
Inns & 201 runs v SA, SSC, 1993
Inns & 171 runs v Ind, Pallekele, 2017 *
Inns & 163 runs v Pak, Galle, 2000
***
From the Sri Lankan point of view, nothing went right. Perhaps, a winning the tosses could have made a difference, but their batting, barring Dimuth Karunaratne and Niroshan Dickwella - failed repeatedly. Kusal Mendis showed signs of spunk, but couldn't find the consistency. Mathews and Chandimal - their batting mainstays were very disappointing and so was Rangana Herath - their lead spinner. For stand-in coach, Nic Pothas, these Tests came as a humbling experience. They have a series against Pakistan coming up in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in October, they need to play much better if they are to stay competitive.
Ravi Shastri begins his stint as head coach with a whitewash away from home, although dare I say, India could have done it even without a coach. They won all the three tosses, plundered runs galore - right from number one to number eleven, made two 600+ scores and one near 500 score, that gave the bowlers plenty of opportunities to exploit - they were disciplined, the Sri Lankan batsmen weren't, and barring one or two sessions in the series, it was one-way traffic all the way. Two Tests ended inside four days and a completely demoralized hosts have been thrashed inside three days in the final Test - by an innings and 171 runs. Shikhar Dhawan made two hundreds, so did Cheteshwar Pujara. Rahul got a bucketful of fifties, one hundred each for Kohli, Rahane and Pandya. Even Ashwin, Jadeja and Saha got plenty of runs - at times it was net practice for the Indians.
Ashwin to Lahiru Kumara, out Bowled!! That's it! Ashwin has his fourth wicket and they complete the 3-0 whitewash. This is also the first time that India have whitewashed their opponents away from home in a minimum 3-Test series. This is also Sri Lanka's first whitewash at home in a 3-Test series since losing to Australia in 2004. This is also the 7th time in the history of Tests that a home team has been whitewashed at home in a minimum of 3-Test series. Coming to the ball, this was the carrom-ball from Ashwin, spun back in from outside off, Kumara didn't pick it up as he let it go by, hears the sound of timber and that ends one of the most one-sided Test series in recent times. Lahiru Kumara b Ashwin 10(15) [4s-2]
Ashwin to Lahiru Kumara, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!
Ashwin to Lahiru Kumara, FOUR, Kumara is having some fun, comes down the track, gets close to the ball and lifts it wide of mid-on for a boundary
Ashwin to Vishwa Fernando, 1 run, flatter and on the stumps, whipped towards mid-wicket for a single