Picture : Sri Lanka Cricket/X
Sri Lanka powered by a brilliant five-wicket haul by spinner Dunith Wellalage stunned India by 110 runs to seal the three-match ODI series 2-0. The first match of the series ended in a tie.
Chasing a competitive 249 on a sharp turner at Premadasa, India were bowled out for a woeful 138 in 26.1 overs. The result will not please new Head coach Gautam Gambhir surely .
left-arm spinner Wellalage, who hurt India with the bat till now, chose to bruise the visitors by ball taking five for 27 after opener Avishka Fernando made a well-paced 96 to carry Lanka to 248 for seven.
However, India had a rather good beginning, despite the early departure of Shubman Gill, to their chase, courtesy Rohit Sharma’s breakneck 35 off 20 balls that included an 18-run over off Maheesh Theekshana.
The runs came in flash 6, 4, 4, 4 in the fourth over of the innings.
Once Rohit walked back, the rest of the Indian batters struggled mysteriously. Virat Kohli (20) played for turn when there was none and was adjudged leg before to Wellalage.
Rishabh Pant, who was playing his first ODI after his comeback from that horrific car crash, trotted down the track and was beaten in the air by Theekshana to eventually get stumped by Kusal.
Sri Lanka seal the ODI series 2-0! What a dominant performance from our Lions! 🇱🇰🏆 #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/py9hzveaYz
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) August 7, 2024
Riyan Parag, who made his ODI debut while coming in place of Arshdeep Singh, offered no shot to a straight one from leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay to get bowled.
In between, Shreyas Iyer also fell leg before to Wellalage, taking the total number of lbw and clean bowled dismissals in this Indian innings to seven.
Earlier, Before their spinners came into the party ,Lanka managed to work through the Indian bowling through opener Avishka Fernando (96, 102 balls, 9×4, 2×6) and Kusal Mendis (59, 82b, 4×4).
India fought through an excellent spell of off-spin by Parag (3/54) but apart from Kuldeep Yadav (1/36) there was no real assistance for him.
Fernando, who stitched two fine partnerships – an 89 for the opening wicket with Pathum Nissanka (45, 65b, 5×4, 2×6) and 82 with Kusal Mendis (59, 82b, 4×4) for the second wicket.
In both those alliances, Fernando was the dominant partner at varying degrees.
