First Batter to Achieve This Fascinating Feat, Outshines Sri Lanka Great.
An overjoyed Rohit Sharma claimed on Sunday that India checked all the boxes against Sri Lanka in the opener Test of the two-match series here, giving his time as Test captain a successful start.
Following up his unbroken 175 with nine wickets in India’s innings and a 222-run victory against Sri Lanka in the match that was completed in three days, Ravindra Jadeja continued to impress with his all-around prowess.
Sri Lanka lost 16 wickets on the day and was bowled out for 174 in the first innings before falling for 178 in the second.
“It was a nice beginning. From our standpoint, the cricket match was fantastic. We checked off every box on our list. “It was a fantastic batting pitch, there was some turn and some help for the seamers as well,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “To be honest, I didn’t expect it is going to be that sort of a Test match that would go done in three days.
“A lot of credit to the players; they bowled extremely effectively together, maintained the pressure, and never gave the Sri Lankan batters an easy time. Simply put, we made sure to apply pressure from both ends.
“Excellent news for Indian cricket. We wanted to come out here and win the Test first and foremost despite the numerous performances and Virat (Kohli)’s historic Test play. Seeing such impressive individual achievements was encouraging, he said.
Ravichandran Ashwin (4/47 in 21 overs) also had a successful run, surpassing Kapil Dev (434 in 131 games) to become India’s second-highest wicket-taker with 436 victims. Jadeja (175 not out, 5/41, and 4/46) made the match his own. He is now just 619 scalps behind Anil Kumble.
Compared to Kapil’s 131 Test matches, Ashwin accomplished the record in his 85th game.
After Polly Umrigar, under whom India defeated New Zealand by an innings and 27 runs in Mumbai in 1955–56, Rohit became the second Indian captain to win his first Test in command by an innings.
After the destroying loss, Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne urged his batsmen to step up their play.
“We never anticipated that it would be over by day three. The hitters must raise their hands and extend their at-bats. It was simple to bat on this surface; whenever you get, you must get two runs, he remarked. This is important while playing against India.
Karunaratne also made fun of his bowlers, stating that the second Test, a pink-ball match that begins on March 12, in Bengaluru, needs to find a balance.
“We could have contained them if we had bowled better. We were either too defensive or too aggressive with the bat; to play a huge inning, you need to find a balance between the two by rotating the strike.
We must put our hands up and score a lot of runs as a batting team. We performed well throughout the first two sessions, but as the ball grew stale, we were unable to perform, and those are the areas we need to improve, according to the Lankan captain.
Man of the Match Jadeja claims that he never looks at the statistics when batting or bowling and believes that the PCA stadium is his fortunate place.
“I’d say that this is my fortunate place. Every time I come here, I feel good. With Rishabh (Pant), I hoped to form a partnership, give him the strike, and take advantage of his batting at the other end. Sincerity demanded, “I have no knowledge of any statistics.
The Saurashtra all-rounder claimed that his confidence has greatly increased as a result of this performance.
“I’m in great shape and am pleased to pick up runs and wickets for the squad. Naturally, a performance like that gives you more confidence as a player. I didn’t change anything; I just played to my strengths and gave myself some space to calm down.
“I try to make things fairly straightforward in the centre. I won’t play with the SG pink ball, so it will be different, and I’ll practise for a few days in the hopes that it goes well’, Jadeja said in closing.