India beat Sri Lanka by 117 runs in the Test series which proved Angelo Mathews’s batting heroics to be in vain. After setting Sri Lanka a 386-run target, India needed seven wickets on the final day to gift Test Captain Virat Kohli his first series victory. The Sri Lankan captain Mathews with Kusal Perera resisted India’s victory push for more than 38 overs with gritty defiance. Perera succumbed to a rush of blood and Ishant Sharma, armed with the new ball, dismissed Mathews to rattle the hosts. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s perseverance paid off when Perera, engaged in a fightback with skipper Angelo Mathews, needlessly reverse-swept to give a catch to Rohit Sharma! The dismissal ended the hopes of Sri Lanka and thus pulled off a great victory for India.