India won by an innings and 222 runs
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Ravindra Jadeja
Batter
Bowler
Rohit's captaincy journey starts off with a thumping win. India almost had the perfect game; the new number three - Vihari - scored a fifty, Pant showed he is ever-improving and Jadeja stamped his mark as the best allrounder in the format. It was Kohli's 100th game and he marked it by reaching 8000 Test runs. Ashwin went past Kapil Dev's 434 wicket tally. No one could have written a better script. As for Sri Lanka, they need to work hard to even compete with this Indian side and since the next Test is a day-night affair it is only going to get tougher. That's all from this game. Hope you enjoyed our coverage. This is Akshay Maanay signing off on behalf of Vineet Anantharaman and Siva. Goodbye!
Ravindra Jadeja | Player of the Match: I would say this is my lucky ground. Whenever I come here I get positive vibes. I was looking to build a partnership with Rishabh, give him the strike and enjoy his batting from the other end. To be honest I don't know about any stat. Feeling very good, happy to score runs and pick wickets for the team. Obviously as a player you boost your confidence with such a performance. I have not done anything differently, just played to my strengths and I give myself time to settle down. I look to keep it very simple out in the middle. I haven't played with the SG pink ball, so it is going to be different and I will practice for a couple of days, hopefully it comes good.
Rohit Sharma | India captain: It was a good start. It was a great game of cricket from our perspective. We ticked all the boxes we wanted to. To be honest I didn't think it is going to be that kind of a Test match which would get over in three days. It was a good batting pitch, there was some turn and some assistance for the seamers as well. Lot of credit to the guys, they bowled very well in tandem, kept the pressure and never made it easier for the Sri Lanka batsmen. We just ensured we applied pressure from both ends. Good signs for India cricket. Lot of performances, landmark Test match for Virat and we wanted to come out here and win the Test first and foremost. It was heartening to see such big individual performances. No thought process, it was about making the most of the bowling options we have and we want to have other options as well. We wanted to make sure he (Jayant) gets some overs. The highlight of the game was Jadeja. There was a question whether to declare or not, it was the team's decision, Jadeja's decision to put them in and shows how selfless he is. It will be our second pink-ball Test at home and not many have played, it will be a challenge. Let's see what kind of pitch we are playing and then take it from there.
Dimuth Karunaratne | Sri Lanka captain: We never thought it would finish by day three. The batters need to put their hands up and bat longer innings. When you are playing against India you have to capitalize on the starts, it was easy to bat on this track, once you get in you have to score big. We backed ourselves (by playing the extra seamer). We thought the wicket would crack open and is going to be up and down. If we had bowled better then we could have restricted them. We were too defensive or too aggressive with the bat, need to get a balance between both by rotating the strike and that's how you play a big innings. As a batting unit we have to put our hands up and score big. We did well for the first two sessions but could not execute when the ball got old and those are things we need to work on.
STAT: Rohit Sharma becomes the second Indian captain to win his maiden Test in charge by an innings after Polly Umrigar, under whom India beat NZ by an innings & 27 runs in Mumbai BS in 1955/56
Most wickets lost in a day's play by SL
16 vs SA Joburg 2017
16 vs Ind Mohali 2022 *
15 vs Ind Bengaluru 1994
Biggest inngs defeats for SL
inngs & 239 runs vs Ind Nagpur 2017
inngs & 229 runs vs SA Cape Town 2001
inngs & 222 runs vs Ind Mohali 2022 *
inngs & 208 runs vs SA Colombo SSC 1993
Ravichandran Ashwin: [On Jadeja] He has really come a long way in the last four-five years. I think his position is a little low for the way he is batting at the moment. His batting has gone one notch higher. He knows what he is doing and it reflects in the way he is batting. In between we both realized that Jayant hasn't bowled a lot. For someone who is our third spinner, it was important to look after him. Jaddu decided that he would give up his overs and give him a go from the end where there was assistance. And then I gave up my end. Jaddu was magnanimous enough to give up the ball first. I had four weeks off. I wanted to contribute with the bat, stay positive, take one ball at a time. I usually get ahead of myself with the bat sometimes, and I hope to contribute now. I thought the surface was a pretty good one. It was not easy to get batsmen out on the defensive. You can't leave Shami and Jasprit out of things either. They stuck to their guns, sustained pressure, bowled their hearts out and reversed the ball to give the follow-on.
16:10 Local Time, 10:40 GMT: This is a meek surrender by Sri Lanka. No fight, no application and no positives to take whatsoever. 16 wickets fell today and they batted a combined 125 overs in both innings. There were some small contributions; Nissanka in the first innings and Dickwella in the second, but compare that to India's four 50+ scores and a big hundred, and you have the summary. For India, it was mostly about Jadeja and it won't be wrong if this Test is known as the Ravindra Jadeja Test in the future. He played the key role for India setting up a massive first innings total and then triggered the collapse today in the morning session, picked up a 5-fer and followed that up with a 4-fer in the second. The only unfortunate thing was he could not join the list of allrounders to score a hundred and pick a 10-wicket haul in the same Test. Hang around for the player interviews..
END OF OVER 60
1 Runs
SL: 178 - 10
0 0 1 0 0 W
Lahiru Kumara
4 (14)
Niroshan Dickwella
51 (81)
Ravichandran Ashwin
21-5-47-4
Ashwin to Kumara, out Caught by Shami!! India take a 1-0 lead. This is a huge win for the home side. Ashwin finishes off the game and leaves Jadeja stranded on 9 wickets in the game. Floated above the eye-line and Kumara had no intention of hanging around any longer, goes for the big shot and slices it to deepish mid-off, Shami runs around and takes a good catch. Kumara c Shami b Ashwin 4(14) [4s-1]
Ashwin to Kumara, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
Ashwin to Kumara, no run, tossed up around off, Kumara prods forward and defends to the off-side
Ashwin to Kumara, no run, in the air and safe. Kumara checks his shot and chips it uppishly towards mid-on, Bumrah is a bit deep and cannot get there in time to take the catch
Ashwin to Dickwella, 1 run, sliding down leg, Dickwella tickles it past leg slip and has to settle with a single
Ashwin to Dickwella, no run, nicely floated up on off, Dickwella drops it dead near his feet with soft hands
Ashwin to Dickwella, no run, drifting into the left hander, Dickwella blocks it in front of mid-wicket
END OF OVER 59
5 Runs
SL: 177 - 9
0 0 1 0 0 4
Lahiru Kumara
4 (11)
Niroshan Dickwella
50 (78)
Ravindra Jadeja
16-5-46-4
Jadeja to Kumara, FOUR, he's had enough defending. Dickwella has reached his landmark and that gives Kumara the license to play the big shot, heaves it over mid-on and just manages to clear the fielder
Jadeja to Kumara, no run, floated up around off, Kumara defends it with a straight bat
Jadeja to Kumara, no run, slower and outside off, Kumara angles it to backward point
Jadeja to Dickwella, 1 run, fifty for Dickwella. He was searching for that single since the last over and has finally got it. Flighted outside off, Dickwella eases it into the vast open spaces on the off-side