India vs Sri Lanka Tests 2022: India Win 2-0 — Rishabh Pant Player of Series, Rohit Sharma's Captaincy Debut, Ashwin 12 Wickets

India won the Sri Lanka Test series February-March 2022 by 2-0 across 2 Tests. Rishabh Pant won Player of the Series. Ravichandran Ashwin took 12 wickets. Rohit Sharma captained India in his first bilateral Test series as India's full-time Test captain (having succeeded Virat Kohli, who stepped down from Test captaincy in January 2022); Dimuth Karunaratne captained Sri Lanka. Tests: 1st at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru; 2nd at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali.

Rohit Sharma's Test Captaincy Debut: India's New Era

Rohit Sharma's captaincy of India in the Sri Lanka Test series February-March 2022 — his first bilateral Tests as India's full-time Test captain following Virat Kohli's resignation from the Test captaincy in January 2022 — gave the 2022 India-SL series its leadership transition context: the player who had succeeded Kohli's record-breaking 7-year run as India's Test captain taking charge for the first home bilateral Test series under the post-Kohli era. Rohit, who had previously captained India in T20Is and ODIs (India winning tournaments under his white-ball captaincy) and had also captained India in a 2021 Test match against Sri Lanka in Kohli's absence, leading India to a 2-0 home win in his first full bilateral Test captaincy gave the 2022 Sri Lanka series the validation of a smooth leadership transition: the same India bowling resources (Ashwin 12 wickets, Jadeja 201 runs all-round) and batting (Pant, Rohit, Gill) that had performed under Kohli producing the same 2-0 home result under Rohit's captaincy. Sri Lanka, touring India under Karunaratne's captaincy immediately after drawing with Australia 1-1 in the Galle series, could not produce the batting consistency needed to avoid the India spinners — Ashwin and Jadeja exploiting the Bengaluru and Mohali sub-continent surfaces — across two bilateral Test innings combinations.

Rishabh Pant Player of the Series and Ashwin 12 Wickets

Rishabh Pant winning the Player of the Series for India against Sri Lanka in the 2022 bilateral — India's left-handed wicketkeeper-batter producing the attacking middle-order batting contributions across Bengaluru and Mohali that consistently gave India's lower-order the acceleration needed to build large first-innings totals — reflected Pant's continued development as India's most important match-changing batter in the 2021-22 period. Pant, whose 89* at the Gabba in the 2020-21 BGT had sealed India's series-winning 4th Test chase, the 195* at Lord's (2021 Ashes), and whose style of batting — attacking left-handed strokeplay, counter-punching against pace and spin — made him the most destructive India middle-order option in conditions across all Test surfaces. Ashwin's 12 wickets — his off-spin exploiting the Bengaluru and Mohali turn against Sri Lanka's batting — gave India the wicket-taking mechanism that combined with Pant's batting to produce comprehensive wins in both Tests. Ravindra Jadeja's 201 runs in the series (all-round contribution from the left-arm spinner) gave India the spin depth — Ashwin and Jadeja operating together on turning pitches — that Sri Lanka's batting could not navigate.

India vs Sri Lanka Tests 2022 in Context

The India vs Sri Lanka Test series February-March 2022 — Bengaluru and Mohali — produced India winning 2-0 in Rohit Sharma's first bilateral as full-time Test captain, with Pant's Player of the Series batting and Ashwin's 12 wickets as the dominant individual contributions. Karunaratne's Sri Lanka — touring India having drawn the Australia bilateral 1-1 in Galle one month earlier — could not adapt their batting to India's spin and bounce conditions across 2 Tests despite being a competitive Test team in their own home conditions. India's 2-0 result in the first WTC 2021-23 cycle home bilateral under Rohit's captaincy set the context for India's subsequent bilateral campaign: the Rohit-Dravid era (Rahul Dravid having been appointed head coach in late 2021) beginning with a home 2-0 win giving the new leadership pair their first bilateral series result.