Jadeja , Ashwin wrap up first Test inside three days as hosts take 1-0 lead

Mohali: Ravindra Jadeja stood tall with his all-round brilliance as he complemented his unbeaten 175 with nine wickets in India’s innings and 222-run win against a Sri Lankan team that looked anything but Test class in a match that ended inside three days.

After being bowled out for 174 in the first innings, Sri Lanka, who lost 16 wickets on the day, were dismissed for 178 in their second essay. In the first innings, they were one short of Jadeja’s individual score and in the second they were three more, which speaks about their plight.

Earlier, Jadeja’s superb all-round show helped the hosts end Sri Lanka’s first innings in the first session itself. Sportzpics India lead the two-match series 1-0, and will like to gain full 24 points from the rubber by winning the Pink Ball Test in Bengaluru, starting 12 March.

The match as a contest was over on the first day when India scored 357 and then piled on Sri Lanka’s misery with Jadeja toying with a depleted bowling attack.

It is after 60 years that an Indian has scored 150 runs and taken five wickets in an innings. Vinoo Mankad, in 1952 against England at Lord’s, and Polly Umrigarh in 1962 versus West Indies at Delhi, are the other owners of this rare feat.

If that wasn’t enough, India got as many as 16 wickets on the third day to wrap up the match with a cumulative bowling effort of 125 overs across two innings.

Jadeja (175 not out, 5/41 and 4/46) made the match his own while Ravichandran Ashwin (4/47 in 21 overs) also had a satisfying run, replacing Kapil Dev (434 in 131 games) as India’s second highest wickettaker with 436 victims. He is now only behind Anil Kumble’s 619 scalps.

One of the contemporary greats, Ashwin achieved the feat in his 85th Test match compared to Kapil’s 131 games.

While the generations and the conditions between the times of Kapil and Ashwin can’t be compared and more so because they possessed different skill-sets but, based on pure numbers, the Tamil Nadu man’s achievement is phenomenal.

Such was the regularity of getting wickets that there was hardly any cause for celebrations and excitement as it seemed a foregone conclusion.

There was no stomach for a fight by this Sri Lankan team and some of the players, like old guard Angelo Mathews and the controversial Niroshan Dickwella (first innings dismissal), seemed primarily disinterested during their stay at the crease.

The wicket had its bit of turn and uneven bounce but nothing much to trouble the batters, but the Lankans made a heavy weather during their two stints, making both Jadeja and Ashwin look more menacing than they actually were.

In fact none of the Lankan batters could understand which of Jadeja’s delivery will be a straighter one and which ones will turn. The mess in their minds caused mess in their approach too.

While the World Test Championships have added a context to every series, lopsided matches against teams who aren’t skilled enough to compete for long periods of time makes it a bad advertisement for Test cricket.

After Rohit Sharma asked Sri Lanka to follow-on after dismissing them for 174, 400 runs adrift of India’s first-innings score of 574 for eight, the visitors were in trouble again after Lahiru Thirimanne became Ashwin’s 433rd victim.

Scorecard
India 1st Innings 
M.Agarwal lbw b Embuldeniya 33
R.Sharma (c) c Lakmal b Kumara
H.Vihari b Fernando 58
V.Kohli b Embuldeniya 45
R.Pant † b Lakmal 96
S.Iyer lbw b de Silva 27
R.Jadeja not out 175
R.Ashwin c †Dickwella b Lakmal 61
J.Yadav c Thirimanne b Fernando 2
M.Shami not out 20
Extras: (b 4, lb 12, nb 12) 28
Total: (129.2 Ov, RR: 4.43) 574/8d
Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-80, 3-170, 4-175, 5-228, 6-332, 7-462, 8-471
Lakmal 25-1-90-2; V.Fernando 26-1-135-2; L.Kumara 10.5-1-52-1; L.Embuldeniya 46-3-188-2; DD Silva 18.2- 1-79-1; C.Asalanka 3.1-0-14-0.

SL 1st Innings : 174
Sri Lanka 2nd Innings:
Lahiru Thirimanne c Rohit b Ashwin 0
Dimuth Karunaratne c Pant b Shami 27
Pathum Nissanka c Pant b Ashwin 6
Angelo Mathews lbw b Ravindra Jadeja 28
Dhananjaya de Silva c Iyer b Jadeja 30
Charith Asalanka c Kohli b Ashwin 20
Niroshan Dickwella not out 51
Suranga Lakmal c Jayant Yadav b Jadeja 0
Lasith Embuldeniya c Pant b Jadeja 2
Vishwa Fernando lbw b Shami 0
Lahiru Kumara c Shami b Ashwin 4
Extras: (B-4, LB-5, NB-1) 10
Total: (all out in 60 Overs) 178
Fall of Wickets: 1-9, 2-19, 3-45, 4-94, 5-121, 6-121, 7-121, 8-153, 9-170, 10-178.
Ravichandran Ashwin 21-5-47-4, Mohammed Shami 8-1-48-2, Ravindra Jadeja 16-5-46-4, Jayant Yadav 11-3-21-0, Jasprit