From 171 for 1 to 248 for 7 after 50 overs—Sri Lanka must have regretted not being able to post a bigger score. However, Sri Lanka won the third and final match of the series in Colombo by a huge margin of 110 runs. The Lankans beat India by 2-0 in the bilateral ODI series. It’s for the second time in their history and also the first time since 1997.
At one time the two teams used to play bilateral series regularly, but in recent times it has decreased quite a bit. In all, this was the 21st bilateral series between the two teams. Sri Lanka had won only twice before – in 1993 and 1997. The series has been drawn three times before.
Match highlight
Sri Lanka got a dramatic win in the second match after the first match was tied. In the last match today, they started well in batting. 89 runs came from the opening pair of Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando. After Nissanka’s return with 45 runs from 65 balls, Avishka’s partnership with Kusal Mendis added another 82 runs.
After that, Sri Lanka collapsed in between the innings. The Lankan’s lost 5 wickets out of 28 runs. Which started with Avishka’s wicket. He was LBW 4 runs away from the century off debutant Ryan Parag. Kusal Mendis (59 off 82), however, survived, with another Mendis, Kamindu, taking Sri Lanka close to 250. K. Mendis scored 23 runs by 19 balls. Parag took 3 wickets.
Rohit Sharma once again started India’s run chase, but on the other hand, Shubman Gill was slow with his run chasing. When he got out on the third ball of the fifth over, India had already conceded 37 runs. Rohit didn’t stay long either. India then started losing wickets. No one in the top order could raise the score, no one even could stand in the middle order. Rohit’s 20-ball 35 is India’s highest score in the innings.
Jeffrey Vandersay did the main damage for India in the previous match, this time the team fell to Dunith Wellalage. The 21-year-old left-arm spinner took 5 wickets for 27 runs, dismissing both Rohit and Virat Kohli. He confirmed Sri Lanka’s win and his own 5 wickets by LBWing Kuldeep Yadav. If India’s review remained, he might have got a wicket at Wellalage, but it didn’t really matter in the end.
Match score summary
Sri Lanka: 248/7 in 50 overs (Avishka 96, Kusal 59, Nissanka 45; Parag 3/54, Sundar 1/29, Kuldeep 1/36).
India: 138 in 26.1 overs (Rohit 35, Sundar 30, Kohli 20; Wellalage 5/27, Vandersay 2/34, Theekshana 2/45).
Result: Sri Lanka won by 110 runs.
Player of the match: Avishka Fernando(SL)
Player of the series: Dunith Wellalage(SL)
Series: Sri Lanka won the three-match series by 2-0.
