Nagpur Test: Clinical India trounce Sri Lanka by an innings and 239 runs, take 1-0 lead

Nagpur, Nov 27: India's premier spinner Ravichandran Ashwin returned with a four-for and became fastest to claim 300 Test wickets as a clinical India thrashed Sri Lanka by an innings and 239 runs in the second Test match here on Monday.

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Trailing India by 405 runs a listless Sri Lankan batting attack crumbled like a castle of cards and were bundled out for 166 in the second innings within one and a half sessions on the penultimate day of the match.

The victory margin is identical to India's Test win over Bangladesh at Mirpur in 2007 when Rahul Dravid was captain.

Skipper Dinesh Chandimal top-scored 61 before falling as the ninth wicket. No visiting batsmen managed to pose any threat to the hosts and kept losing wickets at regular intervals in the morning session. Seven wickets perished in the first session while the remaining two were scalped soon after the lunch session resumed.

India wins second test against Sri Lanka

Ashwin returned with 5 wickets in the second innings as India equalled their biggest win by a margin of an innings and runs left. Off-spinner Ashwin (4/63) completed a coveted personal milestone of fastest 300 Test wickets in 54 games, beating Dennis Lillee's previous record of 56 matches, as he took the last wicket of Sri Lanka.

Indian bowlers were ruthless in their approach right from the start of the day's play and the visitors kept picking up wickets at regular intervals. Seven Sri Lankan wickets perished in the morning session itself and the hosts sniffed a big win.

Lanka were struggling at 145/8 in 41 overs as the umpires signalled for lunch after hosts were given an extra 15-minutes' time to get the visitors all out, which they couldn't do.

The overnight batting pair of Lahiru Thirimanne (9) and Dimuth Karunaratne (11) resumed innings on the penultimate day of the match but were dismissed cheaply. Indian bowlers didn't look back since then and kept things tight for the opposition.

A lot depended on Indian spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as the fourth-day pitch offered turn and bounce and they lived up to expectation. Pitches on the fourth day are a paradise for the spinners and it didn't disappoint.

The Indian spin twins wreaked havoc and the visitors subdued against them. The long stint in the field must have taken it's toll on the minds of the visiting batsmen and even the solid players played some pretty wretched shots.

The manner of abject surrender in this Test match would certainly hurt the island nation, which till few years back was a force to reckon in international cricket.

Just like the Test matches in Sri Lanka, they lost the Test match well inside three and a half days. Ishant Sharma (2/43) looked menacing as he bowled short and quick while Ravindra Jadeja (2/28) was the beneficiary of some sharp fielding from Murali Vijay and indiscretion from the part of opposition batsmen.

Umesh Yadav (2/30) had a chance of completing his 100 wickets in Test but fell one short as the Tamil Nadu tweaker got to his milestone first. Dimuth Karunaratne (18) was the first to get out when he tried to flick Jadeja and Murali Vijay standing at short leg had the ball jam into him.

The Tamil Nadu player showed good reflexes as Karunaratne was left stunned. Lahiru Thirimanne (23), currently a senior player in the team stunned one and all when he chased a wide delivery from Umesh Yadav to hand Jadeja at point the simplest of catches.

It was a shocking dismissal as the ball was on the imaginary sixth stump and should have been left alone. Former captain Angelo Mathews (10) was expected to show some responsibility while batting alongside Chandimal but his choice of shot also left a lot to be desired.

Earlier, leading from the front, Indian skipper Kohli notched up his career's fifth double century along with centurions Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay as they declared their first innings at 610/6. Kohli's fluent knock laid the foundation for India.

In the company of Rohit, Kohli tightened India's grip on the match against Lanka in the post-tea session of the third day. The declaration came immediately after Rohit completed his century after a gap of four years.