Men in Blue showed their brilliance throughout the tour by dominating the Lankans in their own den. The carnage started from the Tests, then the action shifted to the ODIs followed by the one-off T20I. Only the formats changed as the hosts repeated the same old story throughout the series. Virat Kohli led the team brilliantly. Indian players were never under pressure, they came out with set plans and executed it well. The team management decided on a rotation policy with a pool of 20-25 players for the mission 2019 World Cup. A lot of combinations were tried by team India but each move earned the required dividend as the tourists became the first team to whitewash a home side 9-0 in a tour involving all three formats.
Talking about the positives taken from this tour:
- Shikhar Dhawan made waves after been picked up in the Test squad. The southpaw, grabbed this opportunity with both the hands as he slammed two match winning tons. He surely justified his selection.
- Playing his first Test series, Hardik Pandya announced himself in a grand fashion. The tall and lanky all-rounder scored a quick-fire century in the Pallekele Test.
- Post the Test series, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were given rest. So the likes of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal got their chance to impress the captain and the selectors. The trio picked up 19 wickets among them. These young guns fired at the right time.
- Team India was hunting for a strong middle order batsman. Lokesh Rahul was the first choice for this slot but eventually Manish Pandey, got his due. He made the most out this chance. The flamboyant, Karnataka batsman scored two unbeaten fifties on the tour. One coming in ODIs and other half century came in the one-off T20I.
- Yorker specialist, Jasprit Bumrah made a handsome gain in his career after picking up 15 wickets in the ODI series. This was the best performance by any bowler in a bilateral ODI series.
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar scored his maiden fifty in the second ODI. His knock bailed the team out of danger as India went on to win that match. With that knock, he showcased his batting talent to everyone.
- A lot of people questioned on MS Dhoni's selection. But the veteran proved his critics wrong by playing an instrumental role in this series as the Lankans couldn't dismiss him in the ODIs nor in the one-off T20I.
