Imran Khan-led Pakistan failed in 1988. Wasim Akram too failed to inspire his team to a win in 1993. Sourav Ganguly and his batch of 2002 came and failed. MS Dhoni and his conquering men couldn’t do it in 2011. Mishah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan faltered in 2017 but Sri Lanka became the first Asian side to register a win at the Kensington Oval in their first ever match at the venue.Windies got the day off to a promising start. Jason Holder dismissed Kusal Mendis in the very first over of the day even before Sri Lanka were able to add to their overnight score. At 81 for 6, they were still 63 shy of the target with just one more batting pair left. Kusal, who suffered a nasty collision at the boundary in the third session on the third day, walked out to join Dilruwan.With the ball not doing as much as it did under lights, the Sri Lankan pair had took the team forward with relative ease. Their unbeaten stand kept Holder and the other Windies bowlers at bay. Kusal played through discomfort while Dilruwan offered some stern resistance even as Windies threw every single challenge they had in their bag.Windies will probably rue not coming up with a better batting performance in their second essay. They were shot down for just 93 after taking a handy 50-run first innings lead. Holder had an exceptional match as he scored 74 in the first innings and then picked up nine wickets in the match before the visitors ensured his lone hand wasn’t enough for Windies to seal the series.Suranga Lakmal: I am very happy, my first Test match as a captain and it is a good opportunity to lead. Three fast bowlers and a spinner did well and the entire team worked very hard right through the series.
Dilruwan Perera: Really happy to finish the game like this. We thought if we could bat longer, we could achieve the target. We knew the wicket was a little uneven so it would be hard, and if we could bat positively, we could get the runs. We (Kusal and I) both play for the same club and we know each other. We managed to pile up the runs slowly. And this is the first time I’ve batted this way, so it was pretty hard for us, and I’m happy we managed to achieve it. I expected the seamers to do the job but when I am given the ball, I look to take wickets. He (Lakmal) has good experience of leadership and has won a domestic event as captain, so congratulations to him.
Chandika Hathurusingha, Sri Lankan coach: Really great feeling for the boys. Lot of ups and downs in the series, so to come back and level the series is a great feeling. We were under pressure from the start, I felt Jason led them really well and we responded really well. We won the match in the second innings when we took their 7 wickets for just 50 odd runs. Suranga had a talk with the boys before the start of the innings, and that worked. He led from the front, that spell in the second innings proved to be decisive. This is a young team without our senior players. This will give young players a lot of confidence. We will feel really confident after this victory. Kusal Mendis is an outstanding player. We made him bat at three different positions and he responded really well. He is a great player, one for the future.
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