Sri Lanka vs India 2017: 3rd Test Day 3, 5 talking points
India beat Sri Lanka in the third and final Test of the 3-match series by an innings and 171 runs with more than two days to spare. The number one Test team registered their first whitewash away from home in Tests (minimum of 3-Test series).
The hosts continued their sorry performance with the bat on day 3. Continuing from their overnight score of 19 for 1, they lost Dimuth Karunaratne very early in the day.
Mohammed Shami, who bowled a brilliant spell with the new ball in the first innings, was at his best yet again. He dismissed Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis cheaply and put Sri Lanka under pressure straight away.
After losing four wickets for not much on the board, the two best batsmen of Sri Lanka - Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, put together a patient partnership of 65 runs. However, both batsmen got out in quick succession looking to play attacking shots.
Niroshan Dickwella (41 off 52 balls) impressed once again with his composure at the crease. The attacking southpaw looked the best of the lot during his stay. He employed the sweep against the spinners and kept the scoreboard ticking but it wasn't enough to impact the game.
For India, it was Shami who was the pick of the bowlers once again. The quickie started the day brilliantly, getting two quick wickets upfront and setting the tone for the spinners. Ravichandran Ashwin, too, was brilliant with his off-spinners and picked up four wickets for 68. Kuldeep Yadav and Umesh Yadav bagged one and two wickets respectively.
With this dominating win, India handed Sri Lanka their first whitewash in a 3-Test series since 2004.
Here are five talking points from the day's play.
#5 Sri Lankan batting disappoints yet again
India dominated the hosts in all departments of the game. They bowled, batted and fielded in a superior fashion in all the games and even had a better success rate using DRS.
But the main reason Sri Lanka lost this series 3-0 was their uninspiring batting. The hosts just couldn’t perform as a team the entire series.
It was the same story on day 3 as all the batsmen lacked intent and threw away their wickets. Things are not looking good for the future of Sri Lankan cricket at the moment.