Avishka Fernando struck 96 – the highest individual score this series – and Dunith Wellalage picked up a five-for as Sri Lanka secured a first ODI bilateral series win against India in 27 years, with a dominant 110-run win in the third and final ODI in Colombo. Chasing under lights proved to be India’s Achilles’ heel once again, as they fell short by 110 runs in the third and final ODI, resulting in a 2-0 series defeat.
Dunith Wellalage was chief destroyer this time out with figures of 5 for 27, but at various times across the series it’s been Wanindu Hasaranga, Jeffrey Vandersay, or even Charith Asalanka. But at no point – aside from during Rohit Sharma’s now expected top-order romps – have India looked like they would be able to consistently contend.
Pitch and Toss
Dry pitch on once again. We will have a similar game. Fresh pitch though. The groundsman has used the scissors to take out any grass. More cracks visible. Along with the turn, it can spit at you. It can be little more challenging for the batsmen. You got to be boring to get the runs here.
Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka won the toss and chose to bat with Maheesh Theekshana in place of Akila Dananjaya. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma batting second made two changes in the squad having Rishabh Pant and debutant Riyan Parag for KL Rahul AND Arshdeep Singh
Avishka Fernando leads Sri Lanka’s lead in the initial part
Earlier, openers Pathum Nissanka and Fernando got Sri Lanka off to a solid start with an 89-run stand. As is his wont, Nissanka was the early aggressor, hitting four boundaries in the first couple of overs bowled by Mohammed Siraj, who incidentally was India’s lone frontline pacer in this game.
It was Axar who sent back Nissanka with a top-edged slog-sweep and broke the opening stand in the 20th over. But another solid stand ensued, with Fernando leading this partnership with an attractive half-century off 65 balls, his play against the spinners standing out after a bit of a sluggish start against the pacers.
But when faced with it again in Siraj’s second spell, Fernando didn’t hold back, dispatching a boundary and a couple of sixes in the space of five balls. He looked all set for a well-deserved hundred but played back to a full legbreak from Parag and handed the debutant his first ODI wicket.
India’s struggles placed an even higher premium on Avishka’s 96 off 102 earlier in the day, which had set Sri Lanka up so well that not even a collapse that saw them lose 28 runs for five wickets could derail their innings to any significant end.
Over the course of his innings, he was part of Sri Lanka’s most profitable partnerships – 89 and 82 for the first and second wickets respectively – but his innings was not a case of Sri Lanka playing spin considerably better than the opposition, rather finding a way to maximize the opportunities afforded by the seamers.
In this case, while Shivam Dube went for just nine runs off his four overs, Mohammed Siraj was struck for his joint worst figures in ODIs – 78 for 1 off nine. And of that 78, Avishka was responsible for 36 of them, at a strike rate of 200.
This though was more Siraj erring in his lines and lengths, than anything Avishka himself might have done to put him off. But on tricky surfaces such as those dished up at Khettarama, these are the margins that must be capitalized on. Anything short was invariably put away, while Siraj was also guilty of bowling too straight to him; of the 36 runs he conceded to Avishka, 32 were square or behind square on the onside.
Riyan Parag’s impressive debut with the ball restricts Sri Lanka to 248 for 7 .
But while Siraj was having a mare, Riyan Parag was having a debut to remember. He grabbed the key wicket of Avishka, getting a leg break to slide on into his front pad, before getting another to grip, straighten and skid to trap Charith Asalanka on the crease. His best delivery though was reserved for danger man Wellalage, who was done in by one that dipped and turned, pitching middle and spinning past the outside edge to knock back off stump.
His economy rate of six an over meanwhile was impacted by some late strikes, but the rest of the spinners – Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington – proved miserly as ever, picking up a wicket apiece and none going for more than Axar’s 4.10 per over.
Riyan Parag and his spin cohorts however had to be patient for their rewards, as Sri Lanka strung together two strong stands at the top of the order. Alongside Avishka, Pathum Nissanka (45) and Kusal Mendis (59) made important contributions, but like in the first two games, Sri Lanka’s middle order succumbed swiftly and suddenly.
From 171 for 1 they spluttered to 199 for 6. From midway through the 36th over when they lost Avishka, up until midway through the 48th – 72 deliveries to be precise – not a single boundary was scored, scrounging just 49 runs in the period. And from targeting a score in the region of 280, they were now struggling to reach 250.
Fortunately for them, Mendis – one of Sri Lanka’s better players of spin – was around at the death, and he was able to strike some powerful blows to help push the total towards 240. A score that seemed competitive but perhaps underwhelming considering the start provided by Avishka and co., but one that proved plenty in the end.
Parag soon added the wicket of Charith Asalanka (lbw) and triggered a collapse from Sri Lanka, who went from 171/1 to 199/6 as Washington Sundar and Siraj chipped in with crucial strikes. Parag finished with three wickets, his third victim being Wellalage (bowled) and helped India dominate the latter half of the middle overs.
But like the first two ODIs, Sri Lanka found someone to step up in the final overs, the hero this time being Kusal Mendis. The No.3 batter got to his fifty off 77 balls and helped his team add 31 runs in the final three overs of the innings, a phase of play that once again delivered Sri Lanka to a strong total on a challenging pitch.
Dunith Wellalage the hero as Sri Lanka eyes series win vs India
There was yet another blazing start from Rohit Sharma but Virat Kohli endured another low score in what was his worst ever performance in a bilateral series against Sri Lanka, all of that contributing to India crumbling faster than ever against the spinning, skidding ball and losing six wickets inside the first 13 overs.
Dunith Wellalage take 5 wickets to inspire Sri Lanka to series victory after 27 years.
Reeling at 92/6, India still had Shivam Dube and Riyan Parag at the crease, the latter having been handed an ODI debut to strengthen the middle order at the cost of a pacer (Arshdeep Singh). While Parag picked three wickets, the plan to include him didn’t quite work while batting, with the debutant bowled by Jeffrey Vandersay after completely misjudging a legbreak. The other change India made was bringing in left-handed Rishabh Pant for KL Rahul, but as the final result would suggest, it hardly made a difference.
Dunith Wellalage, who was among the runs in the first two ODIs, picked his fifth wicket in the form of Kuldeep Yadav and heaped a huge loss on India, who were bowled out for 138 in only 26.1 overs. Like the first couple of ODIs, as many as nine wickets were lost to spin. Dunith Wellalage, meanwhile, became the first spinner to pick a five-wicket haul against India on more than one occasion.
Presentations and Road Ahead
Charith Asalanka the winning skipper said: I am a happy captain right now. The team did all things right throughout the series. We all knew they are a strong batting line up and we wanted to back our strength, spin was our strength and we backed it. They are in a good mood right now and our coach (Sanath Jayasuriya) is very active. The boys really enjoyed the team environment.
Rohit Sharma the losing skipper said : I don’t think it is a concern (spin problems). But it is something we have to look at individually and as a gameplan. It is a joke, when you are playing for India there is never going to be complacency. When I am captain there is no chance of that. But you have to give credit to good cricket. Sri Lanka played better than us.
We looked at the conditions and went with the combinations, there are also guys who need to be looked at and hence the changes.
There are a lot of areas we need to look at rather than the positives from this series because we need to be better prepared when we come across such conditions next time. These things happen, series loss is not the end of the world, you will lose an odd series here and there but it is about how you come back after the loss.
Avishka Fernando was Player of the Match for his innings of 96 said : Very happy with the innings. The batters got together and did a good job. It was a challenging wicket and a bit disappointed not to get a hundred but happy with the win. (translated from Sinhalese by Roshan Abeysinghe)
Dunith Wellalage was Player of the Series for his all round show said : I want to thank my skipper, team mates and coaching staff. Everyone gave me great support and that’s why I am here. We adjusted to the wicket as it was turning. It was same like the first two ODIs and committed less mistakes today. The batters did a good job and then the spinners bowled well. Everyone is supporting each other and I am excited to be part of the team.
Sri Lanka’s spinners have clinched a famous victory for their nation. But what was India’s plan today. They knew it would be trial by spin going by the trend in the first two ODIs and their plan was to be aggressive. That did not work. Rohit once again got them off to a flying start but unlike the first two games where he batted through the powerplay, he succumbed inside it and the procession started thereafter.
The Indian batters had no clue against the spinners especially Dunith Wellalage who picked up the key wickets of Rohit, Kohli, Iyer and Axar in his first spell and came back to complete his 5-fer. The highest partnership for India came between Washington Sundar and Kuldeep which gives you a fair idea on how things went. They failed to the trial by spin and conceded their first series to Sri Lanka in 27 years.
It was a great start for the Surya-Gambhir era but not so much for the Rohit-Gambhir pair. The level of cricket went downwards after the first game; they kept conceding more runs and scoring less. The application of batters on such pitches will be an area of concern. But they will not have to worry about it soon as India are not scheduled to play another ODI this year as of now.
As for Sri Lanka, they were swept aside in the T20s and even embarrassed in the final T20I but they came back strongly in this format. That first ODI which they tied proved to be the catalyst as they kept improving with each game and this was their best of the lot. With the way the players and crowd reacted to this win it seemed like a long night of celebrations awaits them. Asalanka takes the trophy and walks over to his team mates waiting for him behind a CHAMPIONS banner. He hands it over to Asitha Fernando and the rest pose for the cameras.