IND VS SL - 3rd Test, Sri Lanka tour of India, 2017

Sri Lanka's grievance on day 2 wasn't smoke and mirrors.. it was actual, real smoke. And they'll hope that their performance on day 5 wasn't smoke and mirrors either. They'll hope that this was the beginning of a long, prosperous era of batsmanship. That's now got me thinking about this Indian team. It looks strong. It looks set for world domination. But is that just.. smoke and mirrors? I've been Sagar Chawla bringing all this action your way along with Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Abhinand Raghavendran, Sriram and our scorer, also the birthday boy, Shashikant Singh. Until next time, it's goodbye!

Harsha Bhogle: Interesting aspect of last two tests was that India went away from the 5 bowlers plan. Maybe eye on South Africa

Kohli collects HIS final trophy of the home season. If he's picking up another one in the next 2-3 months, he'll be absolutely ecstatic. The formalities are done with the photographs, and it will be around a month before we see this bunch in whites for South Africa. It already sounds exciting, and there's still a month to let it foster.

-----------------------------------------------------------

A few stats from this game - courtesy our stats editor Deepu Narayanan:
Most successive series wins for a team
9 Australia (Oct 2005 - Jun 2008)
9 India (July 2015 - Dec 2017) *
8 England (July 1884 - Aug 1890)

India's series wins between July 2015 - Dec 2017:
2-1 vs SL, 2015 (A)
3-0 vs SA, 2015 (H)
2-0 vs WI, 2016 (A)
3-0 vs NZ, 2016 (H)
4-0 vs Eng, 2016 (H)
1-0 vs Ban, 2017 (H)
2-1 vs Aus, 2017 (H)
3-0 vs SL, 2017 (A)
1-0 vs SL, 2017 (H)

Highest 4th innings totals against India in India:
299/5 SL, Delhi, 2017 (D)
276/5 WI, Delhi, 1987 (W)
272/6 NZ, Ahmedabad, 2003 (D)
270/7 WI, Chennai, 1967 (D)

India unbeaten at Kotla since 1988.
Played: 12
Won: 10
Draw: 2

-----------------------------------------------------------

Kohli, India captain: It was a good series for me personally. I was hitting the ball pretty well. It was a revelation for me as well that I can play the same way in Tests as I do in ODIs, pushing the game forward. That was something I always hesitated to do. Even in Test cricket, there's nothing called as a set pattern. When I wasn't captain, it was very difficult for me to think of the situation all the time. When I was finding my feet, it was always about making sure that I get runs. When I used to reach a milestone, I used to get relaxed. Rohit, we've always believed that he can change the game in the lower middle order. He's grabbed his chances really well. Everyone's hitting the ball really well. There are few areas for us to work at, but the batting and bowling has been on point. Feels like a disappointment. They played really well. The pitch got really tired by the end. In hindsight, if we had grabbed our chances, we could have pushed harder. Slip catching and fielding, still need to work on it. Firstly, from his (Rahane) initial days, he's always fielded at gully. Gully is a very difficult position to field at. So we trust him there, with his reflexes. Last time I took a break, it was very difficult to handle. But my body is wanting it right now. It has taken a toll in the last couple of years, and right now is the perfect time to take a break before South Africa.

Virat Kohli is Man of the Match and Man of the Series

Chandimal, Sri Lanka captain: It was a really good series. Apart from the second game, we played some good cricket. Credit to the players and management. Most important thing was to execute the plans. Credit to the players. We got Rangana and Angelo, the most experienced players in our team. When Angelo performs well, the youngsters will watch him how to go about it. Credit to Dhananjaya and Roshen Silva in tough conditions against great bowlers. I've done a lot of hard work. I've made changes in my technique, and have worked with the batting coach. It was a tough time. In Sri Lanka, we aren't used to this (talking about air quality), so we struggled for the first two days. Today is a fantastic day. Feels like Sri Lanka. Thanks to Indian fans for supporting us. Thanks to Virat and team, they're really good. Wish them well for South Africa.

Harsha Bhogle: So 1-0 fair result. Weather didn't allow a result in Kolkata and Sri Lanka earned a draw here. An innings and 239 in Nagpur, the huge difference between the sides though

Roshen Silva: I was under pressure, I just wanted to impress the selectors. They are quality bowlers, so I thought if we play some shots against Ashwin and Jadeja, it will put them on the back foot. It wasn't tricky (the wicket), our batting coach said 'if you can score runs here, the whole world will know you can score runs'. I wanted to impress the coaching staff and prove that I can do well at the International level. I guess I grabbed the opportunity.

Dickwella: Ashwin and Jadeja were bowling really well and it was tough to face them. But I was playing my normal game. We were planning to chase the target down if we got some good partnerships. But unfortunately, Dhananjaya de Silva got injured, we had some fine partnerships, if only Dhananjaya had stayed longer, we could have gone for the target. It wasn't a tough pitch to bat, but there was some help for the seamers and there was some rough as well, that was the reason we played a lot of sweeps and we used our feet against the spinners.

Should India be worried about their bowling performance? I wouldn't think so. They've dominated this series and the 1-0 scoreline doesn't quite do them much justice. There will be questions about the declaration, just to find faults more than anything else. But given how good this pitch was, Sri Lanka might well have chased the target if they had the chance. Many viewed this series as a stepping stone for the South Africa tour, and if that's the case, Kohli has every reason to be mighty pleased with the way it's gone, apart from a couple of pitches that we've got. The batsmen, barring Ajinkya Rahane, are among the runs. And the bowling looks more prepared for an overseas quest than it's ever been in recent memory. Stay tuned, we'll be back with the presentations..

16:00 Local Time, 10:30 GMT, 16:00 IST: Dickwella looks at his balcony, and gets the signal to shake hands. So it's a draw here in Delhi. A tremendous effort from Sri Lanka to save the game, even with the pitch being as flat as it was. They lost just 2 wickets in 87 overs today, which is just incredible for an under-fire batting unit. For all their troubles before this, today's performance holds out hope for a much steadier future with the likes of Dhananjaya de Silva and debutant Roshen Silva stepping up in the middle order.

Roshen Silva has a banana and his batting partner gets a drink. Nigel Llong joins them as well

Ashwin to Dickwella, 1 run, short and turning away, Dickwella waits for it on the back foot and cuts it powerfully to deep point

Ashwin to Dickwella, no run, defends a tossed up delivery back at the bowler

Ashwin to Dickwella, no run, full on leg, swept to the man at 45

Ashwin to Dickwella, no run, in the air and safe! Sees the width outside off and throws the kitchen sink with a horizontal blade. Takes the outer edge and falls well short of point

Ashwin to Dickwella, no run, trifle short, poked towards the point region

Ashwin to Dickwella, no run, Dickwella has tried to hit quite a few ferocious shots. Gets down even before the ball is delivered and tries the big slog sweep. The off-break pitched on middle and turned away past the off-pole

Will this be the last over? The umpires join and have a chat. Well, Ashwin to continue