Ishant Sharma Becomes Fourth Indian Pacer to Take 200 Test Wickets

Playing a pivotal role in India's 2-1 series win against Sri Lanka, pace spearhead Ishant Sharma on Tuesday joined the 200 Test wickets-club after taking the key scalp of centurion Angelo Mathews.(Ishant Suspended for One Test)

Bagging eight wickets in the third and final Test, including a fifer in the first innings, Ishant joined an elite company of Indian fast bowlers including Kapil Dev (434), Zaheer Khan (311) and Javagal Srinath (236).(India Win Historic Series in Sri Lanka After 22 Years)

Getting the dangerous Mathews (110) back in the pavilion after skipper Virat Kohli took the second new ball, Ishant broke Lankan resistance to enable his team register a 117-run win.(Gavaskar Hails Kohli's Captaincy)

Ishant, who bagged 13 wickets in three matches, also became a part of the Indian side that won on Sri Lankan soil after 22 years. It was also Kohli's first series win as Test captain.(Aggression Key to India's Success in Lanka)

The lanky-pacer, who turns 27 on Wednesday also became only the 11th bowler to claim 200 Test victims under 27 years of age.(India Gain Ground in ICC Rankings After Series Win)

Here are some other statistical highlights on the fifth and final day of the third Test between India and Sri Lanka:

# After 22 years, India have won a Test series (2-1) vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka - their only previous series win against them in Sri Lanka was by 1-0 in 1993.

# For the first time, India have won two successive Tests vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka - by 278 runs at Colombo (PSS) and by 117 runs at Colombo (SSC) -both in the just concluded series.

# For the first time, India have won an overseas Test series after trailing behind - losing the Galle Test by 63 runs and winning the next two (as above).

# In all India have won three Test rubbers after trailing the series - the first two being the 1972-73 five-Test series vs England in India and 2000-01 three-Test series vs Australia in India.

# For the fifth time, excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, India have won two Tests in an overseas series.

# For the second time, India have captured all 60 wickets in a three-Test series -= the first instance being vs New Zealand in India in 1988-89.

# The Indian spinners have captured 37 wickets, emulating an Indian record by spinners in an overseas series of three Tests - the first instance being vs England in England in 1971.

# Sri Lanka have won two and lost four out of six Tests played this year in Sri Lanka - the most they have lost in Sri Lanka in a calendar year.

# Sri Lanka have lost two home series in 2015 - vs Pakistan and vs India. the last and the only instance when they lost two home series was in 1993 - to South Africa and India.

# Ishant's figures of 8 for 86 are his third best in a Test match next only to the 10 for 108 vs West Indies at Bridgetown in 2011 and 9 for 162 vs New Zealand at Auckland in in 2013-14.  However, his latest figures are his best in Indian wins.

# Cheteshwar Pujara's third MoM award in Tests is his first vs Sri Lanka.This is his first MOM award away from home - the first two being vs England at Ahmedabad in 2012-13 and vs Australia at Hyderabad in 2012-13.

# Pujara has registered five hundreds in a winning cause - his average in a winning cause in Tests being 78.41 while scoring 1333 runs in 22 innings - the best among the Indians with atleast 1,000 runs in Tests

# Ravichandran Ashwin has captured 21 wickets at an average of 18.09 - his best in an away series.  He has finished as the leading wicket-taker in the series.

# Ashwin's above tally is an Indian record vs Sri Lanka in a Test series, surpassing Anil Kumble's 20 (ave.18.70 in three Tests in 2005-06 in India.

# Ashwin has been adjudged the Player of the Series for the fourth time in Tests.

# Angelo Mathews (110) has registered his seventh hundred in Tests - his second vs India.  His first century against India was 102 at Colombo (PSS) in the last Test.

# For the second time, Mathews has recorded centuries in successive Tests - the first instance being 102 at Lord's and 160 at Leeds - both vs England last year.

# Mathews has posted a hundred in the fourth innings of a Test match for the first time. He is the only Sri Lankan skipper to finish on the losing side despite a hundred in the fourth innings - the 13th in all in Test annals.

# Mathews is the fourth Sri Lankan captain after Kumar Sangakkara (130 not out vs Pakistan at Colombo, SSC in 2009), Duleep Mendis (124 vs India at Kandy in 1985-86 and Mahela Jayawardene (123 vs South Africa at Colombo, PSS in 2006) to score a hundred in the fourth innings of a Test match.

# Mathews is averaging 75.71 in the fourth innings - his tally being 530 in 13 innings - the third highest amongst the players with atleast 500 runs next only to the 89.85 by Bruce Mitchell (South Africa) and 86.33 by Jeffrey Stollmeyer

# In seven Tests this year, Mathews has managed 631 runs (ave.48.53), including three centuries and two fifties. His aggregate and centuries are the most by a Sri Lankan batsman this year in Tests. No other captain has recorded three centuries this year in Tests.

# Mathews remains the only batsman to amass 300 runs in the series - his aggregate being 339 in six innings at an average of 56.50, including two hundreds.

# For the second time in a Test series, Mathews hit two hundreds - the first instance being vs England in 2014.

# Kusal Perera (55 & 70) is the third wicketkeeper to register two fifty-plus innings on Test debut - the first two being India's Dilawar Hussain - 59 & 57 vs England at Kolkata in January 1934 and Sri Lanka's Dinesh Chandimal - 58 & 54 vs South Africa at Durban in December 2011.