| India batting, 1st innings (India won the toss and chose to bat first) | |||||
| Batsmen | Dismissal | Runs | 4s | 6s | Strike rate |
| M Vijay | stumped Dickwella, bowled Sandakan | 155 (267) | 13 | 0 | 58.05 |
| S Dhawan | caught Lakmal, bowled Perera | 23 (35) | 4 | 0 | 65.71 |
| C Pujara | caught Samarawickrama, bowled Gamage | 23 (39) | 4 | 0 | 58.97 |
| V Kohli (c) | lbw Sandakan | 243 (287) | 25 | 0 | 84.66 |
| A Rahane | stumped Dickwella, bowled Sandakan | 1 (5) | 0 | 0 | 20.00 |
| R Sharma | caught Dickwella, bowled Sandakan | 65 (102) | 7 | 2 | 63.72 |
| R Ashwin | caught Perera, bowled Gamage | 4 (16) | 0 | 0 | 25.00 |
| W Saha (wk) | not out | 9 (19) | 1 | 0 | 47.36 |
| R Jadeja | not out | 5 (4) | 1 | 0 | 125.00 |
| Batsmen who didn’t bat: M Shami, I Sharma | |||||
| Extras: 8 (7 no-balls, 1 leg bye) | |||||
| India’s total: 536/7 dec. in 127.5 overs, at 4.19 runs per over | |||||
| Fall of wickets: 42/1 (S Dhawan, 9.6), 78/2 (C Pujara, 20.2), 361/3 (M Vijay, 85.6), 365/4 (A Rahane, 87.3), 500/5 (R Sharma, 117.5), 519/6 (R Ashwin, 122.4), 523/7 (V Kohli, 125.3) | |||||
| Sri Lanka bowling, 1st innings | |||||
| Bowlers | Overs | Maidens | Runs given | Wickets | Economy |
| S Lakmal | 21.2 | 2 | 80 | 0 | 3.75 |
| L Gamage | 25.3 | 7 | 95 | 2 | 3.72 |
| D Perera | 31.1 | 0 | 145 | 1 | 4.65 |
| L Sandakan | 33.5 | 1 | 167 | 4 | 4.93 |
| D de Silva | 16 | 0 | 48 | 0 | 3.00 |
| Sri Lanka batting, 1st innings (trail by 536 runs) | |||||
| Batsmen | Dismissal | Runs | 4s | 6s | Strike rate |
| D Karunaratne | caught Saha, bowled Shami | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| D Perera | lbw Jadeja | 42 (54) | 9 | 0 | 77.77 |
| D de Silva | lbw Ishant | 1 (14) | 0 | 0 | 7.14 |
| A Mathews | caught Saha, bowled Ashwin | 111 (268) | 14 | 2 | 41.41 |
| D Chandimal (c) | caught Dhawan, bowled Ishant | 164 (361) | 21 | 1 | 45.42 |
| S Samarawickrama | caught Saha, bowled Ishant | 33 (61) | 7 | 0 | 54.09 |
| R Silva | caught Dhawan, bowled Ashwin | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| N Dickwella (wk) | bowled Ashwin | 0 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| S Lakmal | caught Saha, bowled Shami | 5 (13) | 1 | 0 | 38.46 |
| L Gamage | lbw Jadeja | 1 (16) | 0 | 0 | 6.25 |
| L Sandakan | not out | 0 (20) | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Extras: 16 (2 no-balls, 5 leg byes, 4 byes, 5 pen) | |||||
| Sri Lanka’s total: 373/10 in 135.3 overs, at 2.75 runs per over | |||||
| Fall of wickets: 0/1 (D Karunaratne, 0.1), 14/2 (D de Silva, 5.1), 75/3 (D Perera, 18.4), 256/4 (A Mathews, 97.6), 317/5 (S Samarawickrama, 116.4), 318/6 (R Silva, 117.4), 322/7 (N Dickwella, 119.2), 331/8 (S Lakmal, 122.4), 343/9 (L Gamage, 126.5), 373/10 (D Chandimal, 135.3) | |||||
| India bowling, 1st innings | |||||
| Bowlers | Overs | Maidens | Runs given | Wickets | Economy |
| M Shami | 26 | 6 | 85 | 2 | 3.26 |
| I Sharma | 29.3 | 7 | 98 | 3 | 3.32 |
| R Jadeja | 45 | 13 | 86 | 2 | 1.91 |
| R Ashwin | 35 | 8 | 90 | 3 | 2.57 |
| India batting, 2nd innings (lead by 163 runs) | |||||
| Batsmen | Dismissal | Runs | 4s | 6s | Strike rate |
| M Vijay | caught Dickwella, bowled Lakmal | 9 (12) | 2 | 0 | 75.00 |
| S Dhawan | stumped Dickwella, bowled Sandakan | 67 (91) | 5 | 1 | 73.62 |
| A Rahane | caught Sandakan, bowled Perera | 10 (37) | 2 | 0 | 27.02 |
| C Pujara | caught Mathews, bowled de Silva | 49 (66) | 5 | 0 | 74.24 |
| V Kohli (c) | caught Lakmal, bowled Gamage | 50 (58) | 3 | 0 | 86.20 |
| R Sharma | not out | 50 (49) | 5 | 0 | 102.04 |
| R Jadeja | not out | 4 (4) | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| Batsmen who didn’t bat: R Ashwin, W Saha, M Shami, I Sharma | |||||
| Extras: 7 (3 no-balls, 1 wide, 2 leg byes, 1 bye) | |||||
| India’s total: 246/5 dec. in 52.2 overs, at 4.70 runs per over | |||||
| Fall of wickets: 10/1 (M Vijay, 2.1), 29/2 (A Rahane, 13.4), 106/3 (C Pujara, 30.6), 144/4 (S Dhawan, 35.2), 234/5 (V Kohli, 50.4) | |||||
| Sri Lanka bowling, 2nd innings | |||||
| Bowlers | Overs | Maidens | Runs given | Wickets | Economy |
| S Lakmal | 14 | 3 | 60 | 1 | 4.28 |
| L Gamage | 12.2 | 1 | 48 | 1 | 3.89 |
| D Perera | 11 | 0 | 54 | 1 | 4.90 |
| D de Silva | 5 | 0 | 31 | 1 | 6.20 |
| L Sandakan | 10 | 0 | 50 | 1 | 5.00 |
| Sri Lanka batting, 2nd innings (target: 410) | |||||
| Batsmen | Dismissal | Runs | 4s | 6s | Strike rate |
| D Karunaratne | caught Saha, bowled Jadeja | 13 (46) | 1 | 0 | 28.26 |
| S Samarawickrama | caught Rahane, bowled Shami | 5 (15) | 0 | 0 | 33.33 |
| D de Silva | retired hurt | 119 (219) | 15 | 1 | 54.33 |
| S Lakmal | bowled Jadeja | 0 (3) | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| A Mathews | caught Rahane, bowled Jadeja | 1 (20) | 0 | 0 | 5.00 |
| D Chandimal (c) | bowled Ashwin | 36 (90) | 2 | 0 | 40.00 |
| R Silva | not out | 74 (154) | 11 | 0 | 48.05 |
| N Dickwella (wk) | not out | 44 (72) | 6 | 0 | 61.11 |
| Batsmen who didn’t bat: D Perera, L Gamage, L Sandakan | |||||
| Extras: 7 (1 no-ball, 1 leg bye, 5 byes) | |||||
| Sri Lanka’s total: 299/5 in 103 overs, at 2.90 runs per over | |||||
| Fall of wickets: 14/1 (S Samarawickrama, 5.5), 31/2 (D Karunaratne, 15.1), 31/3 (S Lakmal, 15.4), 35/4 (A Mathews, 21.6), 147/5 (D Chandimal, 54.6), 205/5 (D de Silva (R.H), 75.6) | |||||
| India bowling, 2nd innings | |||||
| Bowlers | Overs | Maidens | Runs given | Wickets | Economy |
| I Sharma | 13 | 2 | 32 | 0 | 2.46 |
| M Shami | 15 | 6 | 50 | 1 | 3.33 |
| R Ashwin | 35 | 3 | 126 | 1 | 3.60 |
| R Jadeja | 38 | 13 | 81 | 3 | 2.13 |
| M Vijay | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3.00 |
| V Kohli | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 |
Man of the match: Virat Kohli, for scoring 293 runs in the Test match; Kohli surpassed the previous highest tally of runs in a Test match by an Indian captain (Sunil Gavaskar 289)
Top scorer in the 3rd Test match:
Virat Kohli [243 (287); 25×4]
What was the deciding factor?
Sri Lanka produced arguably their best batting performance of the series in the last Test, to walk away with a respectable 1-0 series defeat. Angelo Mathews (111), Dinesh Chandimal (164)—in the first innings—and Dhananjaya de Silva (119*) in the second innings, struck impressive and timely centuries to deny India a victory after they had posted 536/7 declared batting first. Though Sri Lanka batted really well in both the innings, the Kotla pitch remained their friend even on day five.
The pitch didn’t deteriorate at all and as a batsman, you were able to get in and not feel unsettled at any stage. Barely did a ball misbehave and as a bowling team, creating wicket-taking opportunities was difficult unless a batsman sold himself or played a rank bad shot. Sri Lankan batsmen, once they got in, enjoyed the situation they were batting in.
At stumps on day four, India seemed to be in sight of a victory with Sri Lanka three down for 31, chasing 410 runs for a victory. But Dhananjaya’s solid innings on day five, when he found the right balance between attack and defence and also received great support from captain Chandimal and debutant Roshen Silva, went a long way towards Sri Lanka drawing the 3rd Test. Dhananjaya went on to make his third Test century and retired hurt for 119* with a glute muscle complaint. But his departure didn’t affect Sri Lanka negatively and Roshen Silva (74*) and Niroshan Dickwella (44*) batted through to stumps, having shared a 94-run partnership.
India had to work extremely hard for a Test win against South Africa a couple of years ago at the Feroz Shah Kotla. They had to bowl 143.1 overs to take 10 South African wickets in the fourth innings. The 3rd Test against Sri Lanka was shaping to be a similar marathon for the Indian bowlers and fielders.
At lunch on the final day, with Sri Lanka at 119/4, India did have their work cut out. But they will have felt that dismissing Chandimal, who had held the innings together for his team in the second and third Tests, could trigger a collapse similar to the first innings in Delhi (Sri Lanka lost 7/117 after Mathews was dismissed following his 181-run, fourth-wicket stand with Chandimal).
Virat Kohli shuffled his bowlers around and each one of them tried his utmost, but the combinations (Mohammed Shami-Ishant Sharma, Shami-Ravindra Jadeja and Jadeja-Ravichandran Ashwin) he opted for didn’t bring wickets in clusters. And, while Sri Lanka grew in confidence every hour, believing that they can bat their way through the day, India saw their confidence and will to fight disappear slowly.
From India’s perspective, they let themselves down with their fielding and catching. Mathews was dropped as many as four times (thrice behind the stumps and once at mid-off) in the first innings, with Virat Kohli giving the former Sri Lankan skipper a second life when he was only on 6. Mathews was dropped a couple of more times in his 90s and once after he reached his eighth Test century. Obviously, India will be disappointed with their fielding display, while slip catching has to be a major concern ahead of the three-Test series against South Africa in South Africa.
In the end, though, this counts as another Test series win for India, who, as a result, have now equalled the record for the most consecutive Test series victories (9, along with Australia).