India became the number one team in Test rankings after they spanked Sri Lanka by an innings and 24 runs in the third and final Test, on Sunday, to clinch the three-match series by a 2-0 margin.
Needing just four wickets to record an emphatic victory, the hosts took just about 40 minutes to polish off the visiting team's tail to record their second consecutive innings victory.
The victory has given India three points in the ICC rankings, taking their overall tally to 122 and leaving them ahead of South Africa and Sri Lanka in the ICC table.
The match would be best remembered for the blazing 293-run knock that Virender Sehwag played. The right-hander, however, missed out on becoming the first batsman in the game's history to score three triple tons.
It was the second successive innings victory for India following their resounding win by an innings and 144 runs in the second Test at Kanpur. The first Test at Ahmedabad was drawn.
It was also India's 101st Test win and their fifth at this venue in 18 matches.
Quotes from the post-match ceremony:
Sangakkara: It was tough but India outperformed us in all three departments of the game in the last two Tests. In this game, we nearly put 400 but Sehwag came and took the game away from us. The guys fought hard through this series but it was not enough. The batting of Dilshan, Prasana, Samaraweera, how Welegedera came through in the first Test .. were the positives. Congrats to the Indian team who did well as a unit; someone always stepped up to perform.
Man of the Match and Man of the Series is Sehwag: This will be the third best of my knocks. I wasn't thinking anything, my mind was very blank; I waited for a while . I just waited for the bad balls. The dressing room they were saying I was hitting the good balls too but when you look at from my point of view, I was just hitting the bad balls..! After the first Test, I had a very good chat with Kirsten. He told me just carry on the process that you applied in Sri Lanka and in New Zealand, you will come good for a long knock. This (no 1) is a team effort.
MS Dhoni: I think the real tough task from now on is to maintain this performance. THe real tough job starts from here. When we are pushed to the wall, we come out with some special performances. Overall I think it was a terrific team performance in this series. Every batsman, who got in, in this match did his job. Especially Virender Sehwag. We had a big total and could put pressure with close-in fielders. Zaheer is back in the rhythm and it was good to see the fast bowlers do well in India. There was a bit of reverse swing but not much help to them but they have bowled very well. Our fielding was good. I think we caught nearly everything that came our way."
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