Sri Lanka players' report card after series loss to India

TOI Sports has its report card ready on Sri Lankan players after they lost the three-Test series 1-2 to India.
Dimuth Karunaratne 3/10 (Matches 3, Runs 67, Avg 11. 16)
Neither team had a decent opening partnership in the entire series. Leading the way was Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne, who was by far the worst player of the series. With 67 runs in the series, Karunaratne's only significant contribution (46) came in the second innings of the second Test at the P Sara Oval, where Sri Lanka's batting collapsed and they lost their last seven wickets for 65 runs.
Karunaratne was found wanting against the new ball pair of Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma. After dismal performances in the first two Tests, he was moved to No. 3 in the third and final game, but there too he flopped with scores of 11 and 0.
Kaushal Silva 4/10 (Matches 3, Runs 87, Avg 14.50)
Like his opening partner, Silva too didn't have the best of series. He endured a couple of forgettable outings in Galle, where he managed just five runs from both innings. His half-century at the P Sara Oval wasn't the most fluent, but it helped Sri Lanka recover after the early loss of Karunaratne in the first innings. The opener, after a jittery beginning, found his feet and motored along. After he was out off a no-ball to Stuart Binny, he showed nerves of steel against the spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra. In the final Test, Silva was out for 3 and 27.
Lahiru Thirimanne 6/10 (Matches 3, Runs 142, Avg 23.66)
Thirimanne had a slightly better series - only if you put it against what the rest of their batsmen have achieved. From 95/5, he was the perfect second fiddle to Dinesh Chandimal in Galle, scoring 44 and putting on 125 runs for the sixth wicket. That partnership in a way changed the whole complexion of the game as it kept the Indian bowlers waiting.
Next up, he played somewhat of a similar innings at the P Sara Oval as well. He and Mathews put on another 127 runs for the fourth wicket and buttressed Sri Lanka's progress, playing out the first session without losing any wicket. Thirimanne batted with immense composure and confidence. For instance, Ishant bowled a magnificent four-over spell first up and he bowled 17 deliveries to Thirimanne in that period, of which just three runs were scored. He brought the batsman forward, but the left-hander dealt it well.
Upul Tharanga 1/10 (Matches 1, Runs 4, Avg 2)
Coming in as a replacement for Kumar Sangakkara, Tharanga could score just 4 and 0 in the only match he played. He was troubled consistently by the new-ball movement from Ishant and Umesh and his feet went nowhere. Time's running out for the left-hander.
Kumar Sangakkara 6/10 (Matches 2, Runs 95, Avg 23.75)

From the beginning, this series was all about Kumar Sangakkara's retirement and how he was expected to go out on a high. However, that wasn't the case. Sangakkara had a rather mediocre series by his standards, accumulating a total of 95 runs from four innings.
In the second innings of the second Test, Sri Lanka needed as much support as possible from Kumar Sangakkara once they walked out to bat in pursuit of 413. But the batsman could manage just 18. Into his final innings, Sangakkara looked rather confident before the moment that every Sri Lankan dreaded arrived. A dipping delivery, a nick and a catch safely pouched. This summed up Sangakkara's final walk back. He held his arms aloft, made no fuss, and walked off quickly as the entire stadium applauded probably Sri Lanka's best batsman.
Angelo Mathews 9/10 (Matches 3, Runs 338, Wickets 4)
There were other Sri Lankan batsmen, and then there was Angelo Mathews. The lone warrior who staged a fight, only to receive no support from the remaining ten players. It seems as if Mathews was in a different zone altogether as the Sri Lankan skipper finished the three-Test series as the highest run-getter with 339 runs at 56.50.
The final two Tests that Sri Lanka lost, Mathews scored a hundred in each of them. At the P Sara Oval out of the 306 which his side scored in the first innings, 102 were his. And even at the SSC, his defiant knock seemed to have put Sri Lanka out of danger at one stage. Mathews dug deep to produce an otherwise highly skilled century, his seventh overall and first in the fourth innings of a Test. After losing five wickets cheaply, Mathews took Sri Lanka to 249/6 at the end of the second session on Day 5 before Ishant had him out for 110.
Not to forget that his 64 in the second innings at Galle also turned out to be crucial, along with the 4 wickets he's bagged.
Dinesh Chandimal 7/10 (Matches 3, Runs 288, Avg 57.60)
Chandimal was the hero of Galle Test. He followed his first-innings score of 59 with a sublime century in the second. India had Sri Lanka on the mat at 108 for 5, but they went on to score 367. Delaying India's push for an innings victory and then propelling Sri Lanka to a lead of 175 was Chandimal with an aggressive and innovative 162 not out from 169 balls, his fourth Test century and first in two seasons, which contributed significantly to his team's run rate of 4.45.
Chandimal and Thirimanne added 125 runs for the sixth wicket. Once his partner was dismissed and India were into the tail, Chandimal moved from 111 to 162 in 45 deliveries before the last wicket fell, bringing the spectators at Galle International Stadium to their feet in appreciation of a superb counter-attacking hundred.
That however, would be the last impact Chandimal was to have in the series. In the last two Tests, he could add just 67 runs. Also, to make matters worse for him, his heated altercation with Ishant in the third Test brought out the best in the bowler, who got him out in the second innings. Both Chandimal and Ishant have been handed one-match suspension by the ICC.
Jehan Mubarak 5/10 (Matches 2, Runs 71, Avg 17.75)
Mubarak's only significant contribution came in Galle, when he and Chandimal launched a counter-attack on the Indian bowlers with an 82-run alliance. Mubarak's 60-ball 49 was entertaining - he took the attack to Harbhajan Singh with a couple of fours and a six. That partnership gave Sri Lanka a platform to build on after the Chandimal-Thirimanne century stand.
Kusal Perera 10/10 (Matches 1, Runs 125, Avg 62.50)

Perera impressed one and all in his debut Test. When on one hand, batsmen were continuously being troubled by the Indian bowlers, Perera stood out with innings of 55 and 70. In the first innings, Sri Lanka had lost six wickets for 48 before the left-hander waged a spirited battle with the lower-order. Perera stitched a crucial 79-run seventh-wicket partnership with Herath to lift the hosts to 201 in reply to India's first-innings score of 312.
In the second innings, until about ten minutes before tea, Mathews and Perera's punchy partnership of 135 promised to carry Sri Lanka unbroken throughout the second session to tea. But then, Perera's overconfident reverse-sweep against R Ashwin provided India the breakthrough they had desperately chased for 38.1 overs.
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.
Dhammika Prasad 9/10 (Matches 2, Wickets 15, St Rate 44.0)

You can't say much when a bowler makes it a habit to get a wicket in his first over, and Prasad did that in the last four innings he bowled in. He took 4/43 in the first innings at the P Sara Oval and restricted India to 325 when they could have scored more. His best however, came at the SSC, where his match tally of 8 for 169 was his best bowling performance in a Test match, eclipsing the 7 for 135 vs Pakistan at Colombo (PSS) in June 2015.
Prasad's figures are the second best by a Sri Lankan pacer vs India at Colombo (SSC) behind Rumesh Ratnayake (8/149 in 1985). Also, with 15 wickets at an average of 23.60, he has produced his best bowling performance in a Test series, bettering the 14 (ave.27.07) in a three-Test series vs Pakistan in 2015.
Rangana Herath 9/10 (Matches 3, Wickets 20, St Rate 62.8)

Herath was to Sri Lanka's spin department was Prasad was to their pace battery. Leading the pack, Herath spun Sri Lanka to an epic win at Galle with figures of 7 for 48. India started the day on 23/1, needing a further 153 runs to take a series lead. They collapsed, spectacularly. Herath bowled 18 unbroken overs for six wickets, moving past Bishan Singh Bedi to become Test cricket's third most successful left-arm spinner as India subsided to 112.
Even though it was mainly Prasad who took the accolades, Herath continued to contribute with 4 for 81 and 3 for 84 in the next two Tests. In addition, his 79-run partnership with Perera in the first innings at SSC, pulled Sri Lanka out of the abyss.
Tharindu Kaushal 7/10 (Matches 2, Wickets 13, St Rate 62.5)
Surprisingly, Tharindu Kaushal hasn't been talked about much as compared to Herath and Prasad. The offspinner pocketed 13 wickets in the series at an average of 38.15. Kaushal applied the squeeze in India's first innings at Galle with 5/135 and along with Herath, caused Indian collapse in the second with 3 for 47.
On a flat surface at the P Sara Oval, Kaushal removed Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma to end with 4/118 - pretty impressive match resume. There's surely more to come from him
Nuwan Pradeep 6/10 (Matches 2, Wickets 8, St Rate 53.2)
Even though 3 for 98 might not sound like a big effort, Pradeep poured his heart out in Galle. He got centurion Shikhar Dhawan and half-centurion Wriddhiman Saha at crucial stages to help Sri Lanka crawl back in the match. Unfortunately, injury kept him out of the second Test, and he came back strongly at SSC to pick up 4 for 62 in the second innings. His dismissal of KL Rahul was a sight to behold. The ball pitched and came back to rattle Rahul's timber who chose to offer no shot.
Dushmantha Chameera 2/10 (Matches 1, Wickets 2, St Rate 102.0)
Simply put it, the 23-year-old was wayward with his line and length. Still early days in his career so has a lot to learn.
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