New Delhi: Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal on Wednesday heaped praise on centurion Dhananjaya de Silva and debutant Roshen Silva for helping the team salvage a draw in the third and final Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla here.
Dhananjaya (119 retd hurt) and Roshen (74 not out) played vital knocks to salvage a draw in the final Test against India here.
Dhananjaya could not carry his innings and left the ground following a glute muscle injury while Roshen made sure he batted till the end to keep the Indian bowlers on the back-foot.
“Credit to Dhananjaya and Roshen Silva for such efforts in tough conditions against great bowlers,” the Sri Lanka captain said.
“I’ve done a lot of hard work. I’ve made changes in my technique, and have worked with the batting coach. It was a tough time.”
Talking about the pollution and conditions Sri Lanka played in here, Chandimal said: “In Sri Lanka, we aren’t used to this [talking about air quality], so we struggled for the first two days. Today was a fantastic day. Feels like Sri Lanka.
“Thanks to Indian fans for supporting us. Thanks to Virat and team, they’re really good.”
Debutant Silva and Niroshan Dickwella batted out the final session as the tourists secured their second draw of the series.
The tourists, who finished on 299-5, could not chase down the 410-run victory target but battled superbly to salvage some pride after being outplayed in the series.
India’s ninth straight Test series triumph puts the world No. 1 side into an elite club with Australia and England.
“When you’re not able to finish off in the second innings after having them three down on day four is disappointing,” India captain Virat Kohli said at the presentation ceremony.
“But they played well, they showed composure and confidence,” added the batsman, who was given the man-of-the-match and man-of-the-series awards.
Resuming the final day on a precarious 31-3, Sri Lanka lost Angelo Mathews early in the morning session but de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal resisted India for two hours as the smog-hit test finally saw a mostly sunny day.
India tasted success in the sixth over of the day when Mathews was caught in the slip off Ravindra Jadeja for one.
Dropped three times in his first innings knock of 111, Mathews was not so lucky in the second, given out on a no-ball, which went undetected by umpire Joel Wilson.
Jadeja bowled Chandimal, then on 24, with a drifted, sharply-turning ball but replays confirmed the left-arm spinner had marginally overstepped.
Nimble-footed de Silva scored freely, especially against the spinners, while Chandimal looked content playing second fiddle.
Ashwin ended the 112-run partnership when he lured Chandimal out of the crease and spun the ball past his bat to hit the stumps.
The Sri Lanka captain, who smashed a career-best 164 in the first innings, made 36.
Ashwin had a chance to catch de Silva, then on 110, off his own bowling but the off-spinner spilt the full-blooded drive.
By then, de Silva was struggling with his thigh injury and the 26-year-old eventually hobbled off the field, passing on the baton to Silva, who proved equal to the challenge.
De Silva’s third Test century contained 15 boundaries and a six off Ashwin.
Silva and Niroshan Dickwella (44 not out) raised 94 runs, denying India a wicket in the final session, before the teams shook hands.
“It was a really good series, apart from the second one (test). We learnt a lot,” Chandimal said.
“Dhananjaya and Roshen batted really well in tough conditions against some great bowlers ... Dickwella played a totally different brand of cricket. [I’m] happy with the way we played today.”
