After suffering a couple of losses, Sri Lanka manages to beat India by three wickets in the third ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. It was just a consolation win, however, having conceded the series earlier. Nevertheless, they will be happy having earned 10 points in the Super League table.
For a change, Shikhar Dhawan-led Indian side won the toss and elected to bat first. They were off to a brisk start but Dhawan fell while playing a rash shot. A partnership was built between Prithvi Shaw and Sanju Samson but they fell a few runs short of their fifties. There was a rain break that followed and post the interval, India collapsed stunningly.
From a position of strength at 157/3, the Men in Blue stumbled to 195/8 with plenty of overs to spare. Once again a lower order partnership was forged before India crawled to 225-all out. Spinners Praveen Jayawickrama and Akila Dhananjaya picked three wickets apiece, while Dushmantha Chameera contributed with a couple of his own.
Avishka Fernando leads the way with the bat for Sri Lanka
Although Minod Bhanuka fell early during the chase, Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa built a 109-run partnership. The latter had the rub of the green going his way throughout the innings and managed to score 65 off 56 balls. Avishka on the other hand was composed and scored his second fifty of the series. Barring a late scare, Sri Lanka won the match comfortably with Ramesh Mendis scoring the winning runs.
The Indians had themselves to blame for the defeat. As many as five catches were dropped and a whopping 30 runs were conceded in extras. Debutantes Chetan Sakariya and Rahul Chahar did the bulk of the damage, snaring five wickets between them. Hardik Pandya had a terrible day with the ball and a terrible series throughout. He was ineffective with the bat as well and that’s a major cause of concern for Team India.
#TeamIndia fight back hard but Sri Lanka win the 3rd #SLvIND ODI by 3 wickets.
India finish the ODI series 2-1 👊
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/7LRDbx0DLM pic.twitter.com/xFo9hy4NrB
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 23, 2021
The defeat marks India’s first ODI loss in Sri Lanka after 9 years. Although they won the series 2-1, they will be disappointed with the outing in the final game. For his splendid knock of 76, Avishka Fernando received the Player of the Match award. The teams will now move on to the T20I series to be played at the same venue from July 25.
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