Paceman Dushmantha Chameera took career-best figures with aggressive short-pitched bowling to give Sri Lanka a slight advantage at the close of play on the second day of the second Test against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton on Saturday.
A dominant Indian team is expected to maintain its stranglehold on a miserable Sri Lanka and wrap up the three-match series when the two mismatched teams face off in the second Twenty20 International in Indore on Friday.
The wily left-arm spinner picked up four wickets on the third day to complete his 23rd five-wicket haul in Tests.
Kumar Sangakkara became the fastest player to reach 12,000 Test runs and will look to rebuild Sri Lanka's innings after they were left teetering at 78 for five at the end of the first day of the second Test against New Zealand.
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews and paceman Dhammika Prasad pushed England to the brink of defeat as the home side, set 350 to win, slumped to 57 for five on the fourth day of the second and final Test on Monday.
Sri Lanka's Kaushal Silva and Kumar Sangakkara offered stubborn resistance on the second day of the opening Test after Joe Root put England in control by hitting his maiden Test double ton on Friday.
Images from Day 1 of the third and final Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo on Saturday.
Images from Day 2 of the second Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Friday.
Virat Kohli dropped a position to 11th leaving India with no batsmen in the top 10 of the ICC Player Rankings for Test batsmen, in the latest update of the ICC Player Rankings released by the International Cricket Council on Tuesday.
The hosts, chasing a mammoth 550 for a win, only managed 245 runs before their second innings folded in the final session of the penultimate day after Dimuth Karunaratne had been dismissed for 97.
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia, at Pallekele, on Tuesday.
Factbox on England captain Alastair Cook, who became the first English batsman to score 10,000 runs in test matches in the second test against Sri Lanka on Monday. *Born Dec. 25, 1984 in Gloucester, England. *Scored an unbeaten 104 on test debut against India at Nagpur in 2006, and made his one-day international debut against Sri Lanka in the same year. *Scored 766 runs in seven innings during the 2010-2011 Ashes tour, to help England to their first series win in Australia for 24 years. *Scored 294 against India in 2011, his highest test score to date, and was named as International Cricket Council's Test Cricketer of the Year in 2011. *Was appointed MBE in the Queen's birthday honours list.
England took charge of the first Test after James Anderson and Stuart Broad took nine wickets between them in favourable conditions for seam bowling to shoot out Sri Lanka for 91 after Jonny Bairstow's excellent knock at Headingley on Friday.
There was a lot of criticism from all quarters when Rohit Sharma was moved down the batting order from one drop to No 5 but the talented right-hander is of the opinion that "no one owns any particular batting slot" in this team.
Alex Hales and Jonathan Bairstow led a fight back for England after debutant all-rounder Dasun Shanaka sparked a top-order collapse on the first day of the first Test against England at Headingley on Thursday. England, who were 70 for four soon after lunch, had moved on to 171 for five when rain prevented any play after tea and forced an early close to an intriguing opening day in the 75th Test staged at Headingley.
Kusal Perera blasted an entertaining 66 from 37 balls to help Sri Lanka outclass India by five wickets in the first match of the T20 tri-series in Colombo.
South Africa took 16 Sri Lanka wickets in a little over two sessions to secure a ruthless victory by an innings and 118 runs in the third and final Test at the Wanderers on Saturday.
Stuart Broad became the first England player to bag two Test hat-tricks and Liam Plunkett claimed his maiden five-wicket haul as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 257 on the opening day of the second Test.
Images from the opening day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Thursday.
Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane hit unbeaten centuries to power India to 344 for three against Sri Lanka on Day 1 of the second Test at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo, on Thursday.
Rohit scored his third ODI double century, settled down most comfortably as India's stop-gap captain, and was India's most valuable player by a long mile. Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the most valuable players in the Sri Lanka ODI series.
'Our plan in to take early wickets in the first 20 overs and that will help us to put pressure on the opposition'
Ajinkya Rahane will be aiming to get his mojo back as India, formidable even without regular skipper Virat Kohli, eye another 'Whitewash' against Sri Lanka in the three-match ODI series, starting on Sunday.
Rohit Sharma bludgeoned the Sri Lankan attack with a record-equalling 35-ball century and powered India to a series-sealing 88-run victory, in the second Twenty20 International, in Indore on Friday.
Bowlers put their foot on the pedal after a flamboyant innings from debutant Hardik Pandya enabling India to be in firm control of the proceedings in the first Test against Sri Lanka, in Galle.
The 35-year-old has been bamboozling batsmen for 15 years now on the international scene and yet still somehow retains the element of surprise.
Less than three months ago, Aaron Finch, alarmingly down on form and confidence, actually feared he might not be chosen for the Australian squad that he was due to lead. Now, he's atop the scoring charts at the World Cup.
Images from the World Cup match played between Australia and Sri Lanka at the Oval in London on Saturday.
Root said that spinning tracks will throw challenges to the visiting team but they are adapting to the conditions quickly.
Images from Day 1 in the first Test between India and Sri Lanka at Galle.
Skipper Rohit Sharma will be desperate to get back to form as a resurgent India look to set their record straight against hosts Sri Lanka in the third match of the Nidahas Tri-Series, in Colombo, on Monday.
Dinesh Chandimal completed a fine century as Sri Lanka continued to hold up England's bid to clinch the series by moving on to 403 for six at lunch on the fourth day of the second test in Durham on Monday. The touring side, crushed in the opening test and bowled out for 101 in the first innings, are six runs ahead in the match after losing only one wicket in the morning session.
Virat Kohli (76 batting) and Abhinav Mukund (81) put on 133 runs for the third wicket as India reached 189 for three in 46.3 overs at stumps on a rain-affected day three.
At a loss to explain Sri Lanka's dismal performance against India, skipper Dinesh Chandimal on Monday said the 0-3 thrashing was the 'worst' Test series of his career and his team has no excuses to offer.
India have won the first two Tests by comprehensive margins -- by 304 runs in Galle and an innings and 53 runs in Colombo.
Images from Day 3 of the second Test between Sri Lanka and India in Colombo, on Saturday.
A dominant India on Saturday outclassed an injury-ravaged and out-of-sorts Sri Lanka by 304 runs in the opening Test to bury the ghosts of a humilating loss at the same venue, exactly two years ago.
It was far from dominating batting show after the inspiring show by their young bowlers but India managed to outclass Sri Lanka by five wickets and complete a 3-0 series whitewash, in the third T20 International in Mumbai on Sunday.
Saurashtra left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat has been recalled, while India also have three first-timers in Washington Sundar, Basil Thampi and Deepak Hooda for the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka.
Skipper Rohit Sharma rose to the occasion when it mattered most as his record breaking third double hundred guided India to a series-levelling 141-run win against Sri Lanka in the second ODI in Mohali on Wednesday.
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