Nobody knows why did the stand in skipper Kapugedera opt to bat first after winning the toss at Pallekelle even after their poor batting performance in the last 2 games.
Sri Lanka's batting replicated their performance once again. A top order player showed promise but the middle order failed to deliver.
Dickwella lost his wicket early. Dinesh Chandimal, the second opener, decided to test the Indian bowling attack but ended up in doing nothing but increasing the pressure by scoring at a strike rate of 50. Mendis meanwhile had to depart after Rohit Sharma took a stunner but Lahiru Thiramanne stood between the sticks like a rock.
But once Dinesh Chandimal went back to the pavilion after scoring a tortoise speed 36, the middle order collapse began. Matthews was trapped by Kedar Jadhav's off-break and the skipper Kapugedera lost his wicket when he tried an over ambitious drive. The very well set Thiramanne lost his wicket on a well played 80.
The hosts finished at 217/9 after playing their full quota of 50 overs. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers with career best figures of 5/27.
Lasith Mallinga did not give up with the ball. He sent the in form Shikhar Dhawan back to the pavilion before Vishwa Fernando removed Virat Kohli for 3.
KL Rahul scored an uneasy 17 before Akila Dananjaya trapped him with his wrong un. Within a space of 7 deliveries, Dananjaya sent Kedar Jadhav back for a duck.
India were in some trouble when the former skipper MS Dhoni walked out to bat. With ample of time left, Dhoni and Rohit both settled down and assured India's chase.
Soon Rohit flew to a half century and started attacking the bowlers cautiously. He ended his rough patch in Sri Lanka and brought up his 12th ODI ton while Dhoni too reached his half century.
With 8 runs needed to win the series, the Pallekelle crowd started turning violent and could not wait for the game to end seeing their team lose their 6th consecutive match and started throwing plastic bottles on the field.
After a 35 minute forced break, both the batsman returned to chase down the remaining 8 runs and take a 3-0 lead in the series.
Cheers,
Sparsh
Sparsh
They are playing with outdated players who mostly play test matches....
ReplyDeleteAlso we can not ignore the hard work which Indians are putting to improve their game