On September 1, 2025, Team India hammered Sri Lanka by 117 runs in the Test match played in Colombo. With this victory, Virat Kohli led India to a red-ball series win on Sri Lankan soil after over 20 years.
Winning the toss, Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews elected to field first and India lost their opener KL Rahul on the second delivery of the match. Ajinkya Rahane also went back to the dugout early after scoring only eight runs from his bat. Captain Kohli and Rohit Sharma scored 18 and 26 respectively. Stuart Binny, who came to bat at number six, got dismissed on a duck.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Amit Mishra displayed courageous batting efforts and smashed an unbeaten 145 and 59 respectively. Their batting efforts helped the visitors erect a total of 312. Dhammika Prasad bagged a four-wicket haul while Ranagana Herath also got three wickets. Following the total, the hosts couldn’t handle the Ishant Sharma-challenge. The pacer demolished Sri Lanka’s batting attack and took a fifer. Mathews and his men capitulated at a score of 201 after batting for 52.2 overs. In the second innings, India lost their top-order batters at a score of seven. However, riding on the batting efforts of Rohit Sharma (50 off 72), Stuart Binny (49 off 62), and Ravichandran Ashwin (58 off 87), India posted a total of 274 and delivered a mammoth target of 386 to the home side.
Sri Lanka surrendered at 268 runs
Chasing the target, Sri Lanka surrendered on 268 runs. Upul Tharanga, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Dinesh Chandimal got dismissed on 0 (7), 0 (7), and 18 (17) respectively. With Sri Lanka reeling on 21/3, Mathews was required and Kaushal Silva and Angelo Mathews stitched a 53-run partnership. However, Umesh Yadav emerged into the scene and got rid of Silva.
Mathews and wicket-keeper Kusal Perera played fighting knocks of 110 and 70 respectively but their innings couldn’t evade defeat. Ravichandran Ashwin took four wickets and emerged as the most effective bowler in the second innings, Ishant took three wickets. Chesteshwar Pujara, who struck an unbeaten 145 in the first innings, became the Player of the Match (POTM).
