Sri Lanka defeated West Indies by a huge margin of 187 runs in the first Test of the series (SL vs WI 1st Test) in their host. In this test match played in Galle, Sri Lanka set a target of 348 runs for the West Indies to win. West Indies' second innings were reduced to 160 runs. Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne was adjudged the player of the match for his 147 in the first innings and 83 runs in the second innings. Sri Lanka has thus taken a 1-0 lead in the 2-match series. The second and final Test match of the series will be played at this ground from November 29.
In this match, Sri Lankan captain Dimuth Karunaratne won the toss and decided to bat first. He also played a powerful inning of 147 runs, which made Sri Lanka 386 runs. Apart from them, Pathum Nisanka (56) and Dhananjay de Silva (61) also scored half-centuries. For West Indies, Roston Chase took 5 wickets for 83 runs in the first innings while Jomel Warican got 3 wickets. West Indies' first innings were reduced to 230 runs. Kyle Meyers scored the most runs, who contributed 45 runs off 62 balls with the help of 8 fours. In the first innings, Praveen Jayavikrama took 4 for 40 while off-spinner Ramesh Mendis took 3 wickets.
Sri Lanka declared the second innings after scoring 191 runs for 4 wickets. Captain Dimuth Karunaratne once again showed greatness with the bat and scored 83 runs in 104 balls with the help of 9 fours. Angelo Mathews played an unbeaten inning of 69 runs. West Indies got a target of 348 runs to win. N Bonner made Sri Lanka wait a long time to win. He faced 220 balls and scored 68 runs with the help of 7 fours. He returned to the pavilion unbeaten. Apart from him, Joshua da Silva played brilliant innings of 54 runs. Both also shared a 100-run partnership for the 7th wicket.
The most important thing was that in both the innings of the West Indies, 18 out of 20 wickets were taken by the Sri Lankan spinners. While off-spinner Ramesh Mendis took a total of 7 wickets, left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya took a total of 6 wickets. He took 5 wickets in the second innings, which is the fourth time in his 12-match Test career. Another spinner Praveen Jayavikrama also took a total of 5 wickets.
