Virat Kohli's 5 best Test victories as captain

#3 India vs Sri Lanka - Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, August-September 2015

(India won by 117 runs)

The Indians celebrate after Yadav’s crucial breakthrough

The victory over Sri Lanka in this Test match earned Virat Kohli his first ever series win as a captain. Sri Lankan skipper Angelo Mathews elected to bowl first hoping to exploit the grass on the wicket.

The Indian opening partnership had been changed for the third time in as many Tests with Cheteshwar Pujara and K.L Rahul entrusted with the responsibility for this match. Rahul’s early dismissal forced the Indian team to promote Ajinkya Rahane up the order.

Sadly, the Indian batting unit was unable to negotiate the swinging conditions and surrendered their wickets easily. Dhammika Prasad and Herath were the main bowlers for the Lankans picking up 4 and 3 wickets respectively.

Excellent batting performances by Cheteshwara Pujara and Amit Mishra down the order helped the Indians post a score of 312 runs in tough batting conditions.

Captain Kohli demanded a similar response from his pace bowlers and they promptly responded to his call, restricting the Lankans to just 201 runs in 52.2 overs. Ishant Sharma led from the front for the Men in Blue snapping up 5 quick wickets which did his reputation as one of India’s top Test bowlers no harm.

In the second innings, Prasad and experienced pace bowler, Nuwan Pradeep, continued to trouble the Indian batsmen with their pace and accuracy, picking up 4 wickets apiece. India were skittled out for a score of 274 runs in 76 overs.

The Sri Lankans failed to chase down the target of 386 set by the Indians in spite of a valiant knock of 110 by captain Angelo Mathews. Ravichandran Ashwin’s variations earned him 4 wickets while Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav chipped in with 3, and 2 wickets respectively.