Twitter Reactions: India Restrict Sri Lanka to 238, Bhuvneshwar Bags Fifer 1

Sri Lanka came into the final ODI of the five-match bilateral series against India as overwhelming underdogs after losing 4 ODI’s on a bounce. It has been a disastrous performance, to say the least, and barring a sensational spell from Akila Dananjaya is the 2nd match which saw the spinner bagging 6/54, the hosts have been pretty mediocre in all three departments of the game and haven’t given any competition to the Men in Blue what so ever.

Regular captain Upul Tharanga was back after serving a two match suspension due to slow over rate and started proceedings with Niroshan Dickwella. Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed the wicket keeper batsman in quick time and followed it up with the wicket of Dilshan Munaweera. On the other hand, Tharanga was looking in a different zone altogether. He was smashing all the bowlers for boundaries and raced of 48 of a mere 34 deliveries when Jasprit Bumrah’s induced an edge from his blade, and MS Dhoni completed a straightforward catch behind the stumps.

With the score at 63/3, the resurrection was the order of the day, and it was what the duo of Angelo Mathews and Lahiru Thirimanne started doing. Both batted pretty sensibly and struck the occasional boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking. Despite not scoring at a brisk pace, they ensured that Sri Lanka didn’t lose a wicket in the middle overs.

They couldn’t quite unleash their big shots and again lost their plot towards the 39th over with the loss of Thirimanne’s wicket. Thirimanne departed after scoring a 102 balls 67 which contained three fours and a six. Mathews was also unable to find the boundaries and was dismissed on 55 of 98 deliveries. With the fall of their wickets, Sri Lanka lost the foundation and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

In the end, Sri Lanka could only muster 238 after losing a flurry of wickets together. It was Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was the pick of the Indian bowlers who returned with his best figures in ODI cricket. He finished with 5/42, while Jaspirt Bumrah also bagged a couple of wickets by conceding 45 runs.

Here are some of the best tweets from the 1st part of the final ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Arya Chakraborty

A Cricket Freak and a Music Lover. Hearing the name of Sachin Tendulkar still gives him goosebumps and listening to Arjit Singh songs keeps him in the right space. Loves Revolving his life around cricket...