Even an unruly and disgruntled crowd wasn’t enough to stop India from sealing down the series here at Kandy in the third ODI. It was a complete team performance from the side as all departments integrated together well, to click and annihilate Sri Lanka and seal the series. The antagonists of the win though were Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma.
Bumrah carried on his good work on the tour as he ended up taking his maiden ODI five wicket haul. Being given the new ball, Bumrah was quite accurate in his spell and his five scalps restricted Sri Lanka to just 217-9.
India were indeed rocked early and were in a bit of trouble, but Rohit Sharma never let things go out of the equation. He scored a fantastic and flawless ton as the Mumbai lad set up India’s chase. MS Dhoni too chipped in with a valuable half century, to further silence his critics.
Post the win, skipper Virat Kohli admitted that the side would now make changes for the remaining games.
“Small targets are always tricky. If it happens to you two or three times, I don’t think it’s an issue. Here the wicket was a bit more challenging. The last game we had a collapse. The other batsmen really applied themselves. We have to be a bit patient with the younger players,” said Kohli.
Praising Man of the Match Jasprit Bumrah, Kohli added:
“He’s got 11 wickets in three games, he’s bowled really well. Last game he missed out on a five-for, but he got it this time. He’s doing a great job for us, and I wish him all the best. We have a squad of 15, we’ll look to give some of the other guys a go. Having won the series already, we can afford to give those guys a go.”