Ind vs SL: 3 talking points as India complete whitewash in Rohit Sharma’s first series as Test captain

KEY STORY

• Rohit Sharma’s first series as Test captain of Team India could not have gone more to plan as the hosts completed a comprehensive 2-0 whitewash against Sri Lanka. Rohit & co. won the second Test match of the series by a margin of 238 runs in less than three days of play in the pink-ball Test.

• India had won the first Test match of the series which was Virat Kohli’s landmark 100th Test at Mohali by an innings and 222 runs. Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round brilliance had led India to victory at Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium.

Here are three talking points from India’s series whitewash-

1) Jasprit Bumrah is good at home

Since making his Test debut in 2018, Jasprit Bumrah almost immediately established himself as one of the finest fast-bowlers in world cricket. However, it took him more than three years to play a home Test match. Before the series against Sri Lanka, Bumrah had only played two Test matches at home but he proved his caliber in home conditions against the Islanders.

After taking two wickets in the first Test, Bumrah took his first five-wicket haul on home soil in the longest format in the first innings of the Bengaluru Test. He followed it up with three more scalps in the second innings and showed the world that he is as lethal with the red-ball on Indian pitches which favour spin.

2) Shreyas Iyer- Mr Consistent?

After coming back from a long injury-layoff in 2021, Shreyas Iyer has grown from strength to strength as a cricketer. After his impressive debut series against New Zealand last year, Iyer continued to show his mastery in Test cricket with two half-centuries in the Bengaluru Test. His Player of the Match (POTM) performance in the pink-ball Test came on the back of a Player of the Series (POTS) display in the T20I series against Sri Lanka where he scored a half-century in all three games.

3) Rishabh Pant- India’s MVP

Rishabh Pant has firmly established himself as one of the best Test batters in world cricket and his POTS display against Sri Lanka was another example of it. After scoring a splendid knock of 96 in 97 balls in Mohali, Pant broke the record of the fastest fifty by an Indian in Test cricket in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test with a 28-ball 50. Earlier, he had scored a quick-fire 26-ball 39 in the first innings.

Pant is not only consistently producing runs for Team India in the longest format but is also doing so at an incredible scoring rate. The wicket-keeper batter is regularly changing the momentum of the game for India with his explosive batting.