Ashwin and Bumrah combine to down Sri Lanka in a lopsided encounter

India will be a happy side finally going into the IPL bubble as they completed the rout of Sri Lanka with an emphatic win to wrap up the affair within just three days of the contest. The Indian bowlers hammered the visitors with an impressive display featuring their turning supremacy in the second innings.

Batting first, the Indian batters couldn’t really produce the start that could have fired them to another big batting display like the one in the first. There was a flurry of wickets falling as the Lankan bowlers kept their grip on the game with some tight bowling.

It was Shreyas Iyer who played a fine knock to arrest the Indian decline and hit back the visitors with a strong counterblast. Ashwin and Pant came up with decent support from the other end but it was more of a one-man show from Iyer. Trying to hit the next gear as he was running short of support at the other end, Shreyas Iyer lost his wicket after scoring a fine 92 in the first innings.

With 252 on the cards, India seemed a happy side, given the devolving surface where the batters were plagued by uneven bounce and some massive turn. Much to Sri Lanka’s surprise, however, their batters started to wobble against the Indian pacers instead of the turners like the one that happened in the first innings.

Bumrah returned figures of 5 for 24, supported well by Ashwin and Shami as the duo plundered four wickets between them. Angelo Matthews was the only one to stitch together a fine brand of resistance as he scored 43.

In the second innings, India made their intentions very clear from ball one as Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma got down to business without wasting any time. Vihari followed the duo with a fine display of a few exotic strokes. Much to the woes of the Bengaluru concourse, Virat Kohli fell for cheap but it was followed by entertainment of the highest order shortly thereafter.

Pant stitched another half-century as if he was plying his trade in the shortest format of the game, racking up a half-century in just 31 balls while Iyer stitched together another incredible knock of 67. India declared at 303 with Sri Lanka to chase down 447.

Bumrah started the second innings exactly from where he left his first. He claimed Thirimanne with a peach as the latter was beaten for pace. The partnership between Karunaratne and Kusal Mendis showed a beacon of hope for the visitors but once Ashwin got the better of the latter, the Indians staged a strong turnaround.

Despite waging a full-blown war almost single-handedly, the Lankan skipper ran short of support at the other end and was finally claimed by Jasprit Bumrah for a fine 107. Ashwin claimed four wickets in the second innings while Bumrah chipped in with a three-fer as India completed the Lankan rout with extreme prejudice as they extended their winning streak in Test series at home to a staggering 15 frays on the bounce.