Brilliant catching got me wickets : Ravichandran Ashwin

Colombo, September 1 -  Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin said that brilliant catching by his teammates during the three-Test series handed the off-spinner 21 wickets which eventually earned him the man of the series award here on Tuesday.

India defeated Sri Lanka by 117 runs on Day 5 of the third and final match to win 2-1 at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, their first series win on Lankan soil in 22 years. It is also India's first away series win since beating the West Indies in 2011.

"I would like to thank the boys, the catching has been brilliant and that is why I have more than 20 wickets in the series," said Ashwin, who made two five-wicket hauls in the series.

"Having been here before for the one-day tournaments, and we had a practice game as well and my take away was that the wickets were slow and I have to put more body in. It has been quite a while to win a Man of the Series, happy to win it. Had a few tennis elbow issues, had to change my technique a little bit. Happy to pay them back with a fifty."

Ashwin top-scored with 58 in India's second innings which proved vital as India handed the hosts a target of 386 runs. In reply, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 268.

This was only the third time that India won a series after being 0-1 down.

(IANS)