Jasprit Bumrah claimed his maiden five wicket haul before Rohit Sharma hammered a century, the 5th of his ODI career to propel India to a rather easy 6 wicket win over Sri Lanka at the Pallekelle Stadium.
The win also ensures an unassailable 3-0 win in the 5 match contest which gives India their fourth successive series win the Island nation.
After the facing a nerve wrecking scare in the previous game, where the host nearly came close to handing over an embarrassing loss to India, it seemed that series would now see some sub-continental spice.
The assumption made by the fans, however, turned out to be completely hollow as Sri Lanka completely failed to match the quality of India in all the departments. Except for a few flashes of brilliance, Sri Lanka could do much to save the game and survive in the series.
Sri Lanka made a blunder by again asking India to chase after winning the toss. The influx of confidence after Akila Dananjaya’s dream spell perhaps could have played a role in making Chamara Kapugedara, the stand in skipper in place of suspended Upul Tharanga, make this decision.
The entire Sri Lankan innings can be summed with the effort from Lahiru Thirimanne and the supportive knock from Dinesh Chandimal.
Thirimanne ended up as the top performer today with the help of his vital knock of 80 from 105 deliveries which formed the backbone of the Sri Lankan innings. It was largely due to his stay in the middle, which saw him bat from the 8th over till the 40th over, that the eventual score was able to go past the 200 runs mark.
The start was not good as opener Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis were removed by Jasprit Bumrah in the 4th and the 8th over.
Chandimal, who walked in as the opener today, then combined with Thirimanne. The duo took the innings forward a calm fashion, adding 72 for the 3rd wicket to add stability. However, Hardik Pandya broke through with the wicket of Chandimal (36 from 71 balls) in the 26th over to end the stand.
After the departure of Chandimal, Sri Lanka could witness another responsible stand as wickets began to fall in a hurry. Angelo Mathews was removed cheaply for the score of 11 by part timer Kedar Jadhav while Bumrah snapped up Thirimanne’s innings.
From here on it was all about garnering as many runs as possible before the surrender. Skipper Chamara Kapugedara (14 from 22 balls) failed to make any substantial contribution. Milinda Siriwardana launched an attack which saw him garner 29 runs at a run a ball pace from 27 balls.
Bumrah made the downfall quicker with the wicket of Siriwardana and Akila Dananjaya in quick successions and complete his five wicket haul as Sri Lanka huffed and puffed to the team total of 217/9 in 50 overs.
The chase was an easy task overall despite early struggles as India rode on the knocks from Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni. Together the pair added 149 runs for the 5th wicket and wiped off the required runs in a hassle free manner.
Rohit Sharma looked in his flawless avatar and batted all the way to remain unbeaten at 122 from 143 balls. He found no support initially as Shikhar Dhawan faced a rare failure in the series after he was dismissed for just five runs by Lasith Malinga in the 3rd over.
The chase was an easy task overall despite early struggles as India rode on the knocks from Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni. Together the pair added 149 runs for the 5th wicket and wiped off the required runs in a hassle free manner.
Rohit Sharma looked in his flawless avatar and batted all the way to remain unbeaten at 122 from 143 balls. He found no support initially as Shikhar Dhawan faced a rare failure in the series after he was dismissed for just five runs by Lasith Malinga in the 3rd over. Virat Kohli also saw an extension of his short dry run as he was dismissed for 3 runs. India was down to 19/2.
But, before things could turn awry, KL Rahul combined to add 40 runs with Rohit Sharma before departing with only 17 runs to his name.
With India’s total reading 61/4, it seemed as if the competition was on. However, Once Dhoni settled down with the free flowing Sharma, the chase looked easy peasy.
A great way to win the series! Superb performance by @Jaspritbumrah93, ImRo45 and @msdhoni! Keep up the winning streak boys! #IndvsSL
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) August 27, 2017
Towards the final stages of the game, angry spectators made the defeat even more terrible with a display of bottling on the ground causing an interruption. Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni along with the Sri Lanka players waited for some time but the disturbance could not be resolved. The umpires, eventually, had both teams agree to culminate the match and pull the curtains down.