For the first time in a long while, an Indian team has managed to pick up 20 wickets in three successive Test matches. All the talk in the build-up to this series centred around dismissing the opposition twice, and those words have finally been translated into action. Two men -R Ashwin and Ishant Sharma - deserve the kudos for this achievement. Ashwin finished the series as the highest wicket-taker with 21 scalps but it was Ishant's eight wickets in the deciding Test here at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) which set up the historic series win.

Ishant was fast and furious in the last two Tests, rattling the opposition with attitude. The Delhi speedster has already been found guilty of a code of conduct breach by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and might well be banned for the next Test, but skipper Kohli has backed him all the way .

"I was very happy with the incident when he was batting. It happened at the right time for us because we had to bowl yesterday and they made him angry. It couldn't have happened at a better time for us. And the timing was absolutely perfect and everything fell in place for us as far as being aggressive is concerned. (Look) at the way he bowled in the second innings...he didn't concede a boundary for 19 overs," Kohli said after his team's 117-run win.

On a docile track at the P Sara Oval in the second Test, it was again big-hearted Ishant who had turned the match around for India.

"He bowled his heart out, like he has always done when the Indian team has needed to defend scores in Tests. If you remember Lord's or even in Australia, he bowled his heart out. I was very happy that he has an aggressive mindset. An angry fast bowler is a captain's delight. I was really happy to see what happened yesterday and it switched some things on in the right ways," Kohli added.

The man who towered over all the bowlers in this series was R Ashwin. The off-spinner has admittedly gone back to the drawing board after being left out of the side for a couple of Tests in Australia. If murmurs are to be believed, Sri Lanka had to go against their strengths and lay out a green top at the SSC to try and nullify Ashwin. "The last 10 or 12 months I have been more focused on the Test match game. I came to terms with the fact that Test cricket is no child's play."