Kohli savours ‘a bit of history’ after series win

Colombo: An elated Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday said that clinching an away series against Sri Lanka after 22 years is a “magnificent milestone”.

India, who beat the hosts by 117 runs at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground on Tuesday, staged a strong comeback from being 0-1 down to win two back-to-back Tests and pocket the three-match series 2-1.

“Feels nice, especially with such a young team, early in our careers, it is a magnificent milestone winning here for the first time in 22 years,” Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony after bagging his first Test series as captain.

The skipper said it was tough coming back in the series and lauded the efforts of even those players who were in the squad but did not feature in the crucial third game.

“Being 0-1 down was never easy. I was told it has never been done [winning away from home] so we created a bit of history. Even the guys who haven’t played, guys like Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] and Varun [Aaron] and Bhajji [Harbhajan Singh], a senior, who has run around and helped everyone,” said Kohli who missed out with the bat in both innings.

The 26-year-old added that everyone played their part in the win and also praised players like Cheteshwar Pujara who came into the side as a replacement and then grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

“The attitude has been brilliant and you mentioned Pujara came in after someone was injured and he saw it as an opportunity and played well. That is why we are playing the kind of cricket we are playing. There are areas we want to improve on, and now that the series is over we can count the number of sessions where we did not play well.

“Overall, very proud of the boys,” he concluded.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, the Man of the Series, said that brilliant catching by his teammates had helped him come away with his tally of 21 wickets.

“I would like to thank the boys, the catching has been brilliant and that is why I have more than 20 wickets in the series,” said Ashwin, who made two five-wicket hauls in the series.

“Having been here before for the one-day tournaments, and we had a practice game as well and my takeaway was that the wickets were slow and I have to put more body in. It has been quite a while to win a Man of the Series, happy to win it. Had a few tennis elbow issues, had to change my technique a little bit. Happy to pay them back with a fifty.”

Ashwin top-scored with 58 in India’s second innings, which proved vital as India handed the hosts a target of 386 runs. In reply, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 268. The series marked only the third time that India won a series after being 0-1 down.