(MENAFN- Arab Times) India overcame a gallant century by Sri Lankan captain Angelo Mathews to win their final Test by 117 runs on Tuesday and end a 22- year wait for a series win on the island. The hosts, set a victory target of 386, were bowled out for 268 after tea on the fifth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo to hand the tourists a 2- 1 series scoreline.
Sri Lanka were revived by a 135- run stand for the sixth wicket between Mathews and debutant Kusal Perera, but the dismissal of both batsmen on either side of tea sealed their fate. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin finished with four for 69 to complete the series with 21 wickets. Seamer Ishant Sharma took three wickets in the innings, including the vital scalp of Mathews after tea, to take his tally to 200 wickets in his 65th Test. India fought back after losing the opening Test in Galle by 63 runs to win the second at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo by 278 runs and then took the enthralling final Test in the last session of play.
India's last series success in Sri Lanka came under Mohammad Azharuddin's captaincy in 1993 when they won 1-0. Sri Lanka had slipped to a shaky 107-5 before lunch when Mathews and Perera joined hands to bat out a major part of the afternoon session and lift the hosts to 249-6 by tea. Mathews made 110, his seventh Test century and the second in successive matches after scoring 102 in the second Test, before he was legbefore to Sharma in the first over after tea with the second new ball. Left-handed Perera followed his 55 in the first innings with 70, becoming only the second Sri Lankan after Dinesh Chandimal to score two halfcenturies in his debut Test.
Perera looked set for a bigger score when he was dismissed shortly before tea, playing a reverse sweep off Ashwin straight to Rohit Sharma at point. Meanwhile, India's Ishant Sharma was on Tuesday suspended by the International Cricket Council for one Test match and Dinesh Chandimal of Sri Lanka banned from a One-Day International for misconduct during the final Test in Colombo. Two other Sri Lankan players, Dhammika Prasad and Lahiru Thirimanne, were fined 50 percent of their undisclosed match fees for similar offences during the match, the ICC said in a statement.
All four players were involved in a heated flare-up during the fourth day's play on Monday, prompting match referee Andy Pycroft to charge the players under the ICC's code of conduct. Tempers rose in the final session as Sharma and the Sri Lankan fielders had a heated exchange after Prasad bowled three consecutive bouncers to the Indian tailender. Chandimal nudged Sharma with his shoulder and Thirimanne also joined in the verbal spat forcing umpires Nigel Llong and Rod Tucker to step in to calm down the players. As Sharma hurried off the field after the Indian innings ended, Prasad sprinted behind him and television pictures showed the two players speaking to each other outside the dressing rooms. Sharma, who had been fined 65 percent of his match fees for misconduct during the second Test at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo, was penalised again for taunting opener Upul Tharanga after he dismissed him.
The lanky fast bowler will miss India's first Test against South Africa in Mohali from November 5, the ICC said. Chandimal will sit out the one-day international between Sri Lanka and the West Indies in Colombo on November 1. "Monday's incidents were not good advertisements for international cricket," Pycroft said. "These experienced cricketers forgot their fundamental responsibilities of respecting their opponents as well as the umpires, and got involved in incidents which were clearly against the spirit of the game," Pycroft was quoted as saying in the ICC statement. "Their actions cannot be condoned and must be discouraged." All four players admitted the offences and accepted the proposed sanctions, the statement added.
Indian captain Virat Kohli said the incidents had benefitted his team because it fired up Sharma in Sri Lanka's second innings. "An angry fast bowler is a captain's delight," Kohli said after his team's series-clinching 117-run victory at the Sinhalese Sports Club on Tuesday. "It happened at the right time because we had to bowl after that. I was very happy that he has an aggressive mindset."
Sri Lanka vs India Scoreboard
COLOMBO, Sept 1, (AFP): Final scoreboard on the fifth day of the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and India at the
Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo on Tuesday:
INDIA 1st innings: 312 (C. Pujara 145 not out, A. Mishra 59, D. Prasad 4-100, R. Herath 3-84)
SRI LANKA 1st innings: 201 (K. Perera 55, R. Herath 49, I. Sharma 5-54, S. Binny 2-24, A. Mishra 2-25)
INDIA 2nd innings: 274 (R. Sharma 50, S. Binny 49, R. Ashwin 58, D. Prasad 4-69, N. Pradeep 4-62)
SRI LANKA 2nd innings (overnight 67-3):
U. Tharanga c Ojha b I. Sharma """..0
K. Silva c Pujara b Yadav """"""..27
D. Karunaratne c Ojha b Yadav"""".0
D. Chandimal c Kohli b I. Sharma "".18
A. Mathews lbw b I. Sharma""""..110
L. Thirimanne c Rahul b Ashwin""".12
K. Perera c R. Sharma b Ashwin"""70
R. Herath lbw b Ashwin""""""""11
T. Kaushal not out""""""""""".1
D. Prasad c Binny b Ashwin """"""6
N. Pradeep lbw b Mishra """""""..0
Extras: (b4, lb2, nb7)"""""""..13
Total (all out, 85 overs)""""""268
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Tharanga), 2-2 (Karunaratne), 3-21 (Chandimal), 4-74 (Silva), 5-107 (Thirimanne), 6-242 (Perera), 7-249 (Mathews), 8-257 (Herath), 9-263 (Prasad), 10-268 (Pradeep).
Bowling: I. Sharma 19-5-32-3 (nb4); Yadav 15-3-65-2; Binny 13-3-49-0; Mishra 18-1-47-1 (nb3); Ashwin 20-2-69-4
India won by 117 runs; clinch series 2-1.
Toss: Sri Lanka
Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG) and Rod Tucker (AUS)
TV umpire: Raveendra Wimalasiri (SRI)
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