India captain Virat Kohli completed his 17th Test ton on Saturday and then let his bowlers demolish injury-hit Sri Lanka to claim a 304-run victory inside four days in their first Test.
Set a daunting 550 to win, Dimuth Karunaratne made 97 for Sri Lanka, but after his departure in the final session their hopes sank in Galle.
With all-rounder Asela Gunaratne and stand-in captain Rangana Herath unable to bat through injury, Sri Lanka called it a day with eight wickets down for the total of 245.
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin each took three wickets for the dominant tourists.
Kohli modestly called it a “clinical performance” after his side scored 600 in the first innings and then restricted Sri Lanka to 291.
India lost the opening match in Galle two years ago, but went on to take the series 2-1 and then return to number one in the Test rankings in the following months.
“We are a more experienced side now. We are playing more consistent cricket and that shows,” Kohli said after the big win.
Karunaratne's stubborn 208-ball innings took him past 2,500 career Test runs but did not find enough support at the other end.
Mohammed Shami forced Karunaratne's fellow opener Upul Tharanga to play the ball onto his stumps for 10. Danushka Gunathilaka went for two, giving an easy catch to Cheteshwar Pujara at short square leg two overs later.
Kusal Mendis made a promising 36 before he made the thinnest of touches to wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha. The third umpire gave it out after a Kohli appeal.
Former Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews, with two to his name, gave the easiest of catches to Hardik Pandya as he skipped down the wicket looking for a big hit.
Wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella made 67 and his 101 partnership with Karunaratne raised Sri Lankan hopes for a while, before he was also caught behind.
That brought in Dilruwan Perera, top scorer in Sri Lanka's first innings with 92. But Karunaratne paid the price for a rare rash shot and was bowled by Ashwin, who is now on 275 Test wickets.
Nuwan Pradeep and Lahiru Kumara went within three overs, leaving Dilruwan stranded on 21. India's brilliant first innings – in which Shikhar Dhawan scored 192 and Pujara 153 – broke Sri Lanka on the first day.
“We need to improve ourselves fast – the batting, bowling and fielding,” said Sri Lankan captain Herath. Gunaratne has been ruled out of the rest of the series with a fractured finger but veteran Herath said his injured finger would be better again in a few days.
The second Test starts in Colombo on August 3.

After an extended home season last year, India have several overseas tours lined up in 2017 and onward. Marked as one of the marquee series, all eyes are on tours to South Africa late this year and the tour to England in June next year. The tour to South Africa, though, is likely to be impacted with Sri Lanka touring India in November-December this year.
Earlier in January this year, India had agreed to play the Independence Cup in Sri Lanka featuring the hosts, South Africa and Pakistan. However, Cricbuzz understands that it could well be changed into a tri-nation series with the third team as Bangladesh. The series will be played in March next year to celebrate Sri Lanka's 70th Independence Day.
While the schedule hasn't been finalised yet, Sri Lanka in all likelihood will play three Tests, five One-Day Internationals and one Twenty20 International in India. The tour was originally supposed to take place in February but considering the the proposal for the Independence Cup was put forward in January this year, Sri Lanka Cricket requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India to reschedule the series in India.
While the schedule for both tours – Sri Lanka's tour to India and India's tour to South Africa – isn't ready yet, it's likely to reduce the number of days India will spend in the African nation. After the current Sri Lanka tour – which ends on September 6 – India are scheduled to play Australia at home and then Sri Lanka, before travelling to South Africa. With the pay dispute in Australia still raging and failing to arrive at a resolution, accommodating the Sri Lanka series during that period could also serve as an option.
"The Sri Lanka tour to India has been brought forward from February next year because we are hosting the tri-nation Independence Cup during that period," Ashley de Silva, Sri Lanka Cricket CEO, said on Saturday (July 29).
"Sri Lanka was due to tour India from February end to the first week of April next year and the dates would have clashed with the Independence Cup. That's why we requested the Indian board for a change to bring the tour forward and they have agreed."

Moeen Ali became the first bowler in The Oval's 100 Test-history to take a hat-trick as England wrapped up a crushing 239-run win in the third Test against South Africa on Monday.
Victory put England 2-1 up in this four-match series, with just the fourth Test at Old Trafford starting on Friday to come.
After having Dean Elgar (136) and Kagiso Rabada (nought) caught at first slip by Ben Stokes with the last two balls of his 16th over, off-spinner Ali ended The Oval's landmark match when he had Morne Morkel lbw with the first ball of his next over – although England had to first review umpire Joel Wilson's not out decision.
“I was very confident it was out, as soon as it hit his pad,” Ali told Sky Sports of his hat-trick delivery.
“It was a great feeling.” Ali's treble saw him become the 13th England bowler to take a hat-trick at this level, with South Africa's second innings the first in the 140-year history of Test cricket to include four first-ball ducks.
South Africa, set a mammoth 492 for victory, were all out for 252 after lunch, with Worcestershire all-rounder Ali taking four for 45.
“What a way to celebrate the 100th Test at this ground,” said England captain Joe Root.
He added that England's first-innings batting, with man-of-the-match Stokes making 112 and former captain Alastair Cook 88 in a total of 353, had laid the platform for an emphatic success.
“I think the way we batted in the first innings was really important and set a good benchmark for us.
“Alastair Cook's innings was crucial – we could have gone five or six down but the way he played was brilliant.”
The way this series has see-sawed – England won the first Test at Lord's by 211 runs and South Africa took the second at Trent Bridge by 340 runs – will give the Proteas hope of bouncing back in Manchester.
“At no point have we made excuses – we know Trent Bridge wasn't good enough, we've responded,” said Root.
South Africa were hampered by key seamer Vernon Philander, the man-of-the-match at Trent Bridge, being off the field for much of this Test with a viral infection.
“It's obvious to say that someone like Vernon Philander missing out on that first innings was costly, so they got 100 runs too many in that innings, but you have to say the English team batted well,” said South Africa captain Faf du Plessis.
South Africa resumed on Monday on 117 for four, with left-handed opener Elgar (72 not out) and Temba Bavuma (16 not out) having already helped the Proteas recover from 52 for four on Sunday.
Victory was all but beyond South Africa, with no side having made more to win in the fourth innings of a Test than the West Indies' 418 for seven against Australia at St John's in 2003.
Middlesex seamer Toby Roland-Jones, who had followed up his stunning Test debut bowling innings return of five for 57 by dismissing star batsman Hashim Amla cheaply for the second time in the match on Sunday, eventually ended a stand worth 108 runs.
His full-length delivery struck Bavuma on the pad as the diminutive batsman got only half-forward.
Aleem Dar ruled not out but England reviewed the experienced Pakistani umpire's decision and Bavuma had to go for 32 after a defiant innings of more than two hours.
There was no need for a review next ball as South Africa's 160 for five became 160 for six when Philander inexplicably padded up to Roland-Jones and was plumb lbw.
The 30-year-old Elgar, batting with a bruised finger, battled on for his eighth century in 38 Tests by lofting Ali over mid-off for a 16th four in 149 balls.
But Chris Morris, who survived Roland-Jones's hat-trick delivery, fell to the last ball before lunch when he edged Ali to man-of-the-match Stokes to leave the Proteas 205 for seven.
Elgar's more than five-and-half hours at the crease ended when he prodded forward to Ali and Stokes did the rest.

Former captain Michael Clarke said on Sunday a bitter pay dispute between players and Cricket Australia (CA) was ‘horrible’ for the game and their relationship was likely to be in tatters even after a resolution.
After months of negotiations, the players and CA have failed to reach agreement on a new pay deal, leaving 230 cricketers unemployed since the end of June when their contracts expired.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said last week that unless intensive negotiations over a revenue-sharing deal produced a compromise by early this week, his organisation would seek the intervention of an industrial umpire to resolve the impasse.
Clarke feared things would not be the same between the governing body and the players if and when the disagreement was finally resolved.
“I think it’s been horrible for the game, to be honest,” Clarke told commercial broadcaster Channel Nine. “There is no doubt what has happened will affect the relationship even more than it already was affected between players and Cricket Australia.
“The problem we have got now is that it is not just the Australian players that are affected”, he added, saying the fans and the public were also involved in ‘the number one story in Australian sport’.
Negotiations between the two warring parties continued over the weekend, with the key issue a new revenue model.
The players were paid from gross revenue for the past two decades, but CA now wants payments to come from a set pool, with players to share only in surplus revenue.
Clarke said he could understand the arguments of both parties but added: “Whatever has been going on, it should have been done in private.”
The Test squad is due to go into camp on Aug 11 ahead of a Test tour of Bangladesh, which is in danger of being scrapped following the boycott of Australia ‘A’s tour to South Africa earlier this month.
The long-running dispute also threatens Australia’s one-day tour to India in September and October ahead of the showpiece home Ashes series, beginning in November.

Sri Lanka's sports minister gave his support last month for an investigation into the country's controversial 2011 World Cup loss against India, amid fresh allegations of match fixing.
The South Asian nation lost the World Cup final by six wickets at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, stunning the cricket-mad island. Then Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara resigned soon after the match.
Pressure has since been mounting for an inquiry into the shock defeat, with a former cricket captain and a previous sports minister going public with their suspicions that Sri Lanka deliberately lost the match.
“The allegations merit an investigation,” Dayasiri Jayasekera told reporters in Colombo. “As soon as I get a written complaint, I will start a probe.”
Sri Lanka, batting first, scored 274-6 off 50 overs and appeared in a commanding position when Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar was caught for 18. India turned the game dramatically thanks partly to poor fielding and bowling by Sri Lanka.
The sports minister at the time, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, has raised fresh concerns, telling local media there were “several disturbing factors about that game”.
Four last-minute changes were made to the Sri Lankan side without prior approval being sought from the sports minister, breaching convention.
“Then there are also questions about the behaviour of a very senior player. During the match, instructions sent to the field were ignored,” Aluthgamage said, without naming the player in question.
The former minister said he launched an inquiry after the match, but the investigation was scuttled.
His concerns followed quick on the heels of comments from former Sri Lanka skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, who demanded an inquiry be held to expose the “dirt” on dodgy cricketers.
Last year, the International Cricket Council imposed a three-year ban on a top Sri Lankan official Jayananda Warnaweera for failing to cooperate with an anti-corruption investigation.
Sri Lankan players and umpires have been accused of match fixing in the past, but Warnaweera was the first high ranking official to be found guilty and penalised.
Betting is illegal in most of the Indian subcontinent, but backstreet bookmakers – many with underworld links – still flourish.
Although no big-name Sri Lankan player has ever been convicted of corruption, several former stars have made allegations of match fixing or spot-fixing – when players deliberately bowl or field badly to give away a set number of runs.

England lifted the Women's Cricket World Cup for the fourth time after beating India by nine runs at Lord's on Sunday July 23.
India, chasing a modest 229 to win, was cruising to victory in the final as it reached 190 for three. But a late collapse, sparked by five wickets in 19 balls from Anya Shrubsole, saw England snatch an unlikely victory on home soil.
"It was just an unbelievable game. We looked for minute like we were out of it," Shrubsole said. "But one of the great things about this team, we never give up. We never let the run rate get away from us, even though we weren't getting wickets. We knew if we got a couple we'd be right in the game and all was well in the end."I think it's a dream and a dream you never think is going to come true."
It was a milestone moment for women's cricket as Lord's – known as the Home of Cricket – was sold out and ticket scalpers were outside the ground.
The English had lost to India in their opening game of the tournament but impressive victories in the next six matches made them favorites to add to the cups they won in 1973, 1993 and 2009.
England captain Heather Knight won the toss and chose to bat first, but she had departed for one when Natalie Sciver arrived in the middle with England 63 for three.
Sciver and Sarah Taylor put on 83 for the fourth wicket, but both were casualties of a stunning spell of three wickets for two runs off 10 balls by fast bowler Jhulan Goswami. Sciver, the only player to make two centuries at this World Cup, reached another 50, but added just one more run before she was trapped by Goswami.
Katherine Brunt made a breezy 34 and Jenny Gunn an unbeaten 25, but England's total of 228 for seven appeared distinctly reachable for India.
Shrubsole got England off to a dream start as India began their reply, nicking the off-stump of the dangerous Smriti Mandhana for a duck in the second over.
When Mithali Raj got herself run out, by Sciver, going for a single that was never on, India were 43 for two and the encounter was finely poised.
However, that brought Harmanpreet Kaur, who destroyed Australia with a breathtaking unbeaten 171 in the semifinal, to the crease. Kaur clubbed two sixes on her way to 51 before holing out to Tammy Beaumont, off Alex Hartley, going for a third.
But misfields and mistakes were starting to creep in for England. Taylor missed a stumping to get rid of Poonam Raut before Knight dropped Veda Krishnamurthy.
The game seemed up by the time Raut, struggling with cramp, finally fell leg before to Shrubsole for 86, leaving India 191 for four.
But when Hartley accounted for Sushma Verma for a duck, then Shrubsole removed Krishnamurthy and Goswami in successive balls, England had a lifeline.
Taylor thought she had Deepthi Sharma stumped but a drawn-out replay could not prove her foot was off the floor at the point of impact.
Yet moments later Shikha Pandey was run out, Sharma picked out Sciver off Shrubsole and India was nine down.
Unbelievably, Gunn dropped the most straightforward catch of a thrilling final from Rajeshwari Gayakwad just to ramp up the tension even further.
But Shrubsole got the job done with the next ball, clean bowling Gayakwad to spark celebrations on the pitch and bedlam in the stands in north London.

Headline News >