Sri Lanka save themselves from clean sweep by winning the last ODI
Sri Lanka saved themselves from a clean sweep after thrashing India by three wickets in the third and final ODI with excellent half-centuries from opener Avishka Fernando (76) and batsman No. Despite losing the third ODI, India won the series 2–1.
Due to the arrival of rain, the number of overs in the match was reduced to 47-47. India set Sri Lanka a target of 227 runs thanks to useful innings of 49, 46 and 40 runs from openers Prithvi Shaw and Sanju Samson and middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav respectively and the hosts achieved this target at the loss of 7 wickets in 39 overs. achieved.
Sri Lanka lost their first wicket for 35 runs but Fernando and Rajapaksa put on a winning partnership of 109 runs for the second wicket. Sri Lanka were once in a good position at 194 for three but then lost four wickets in a span of 26 runs. Leg spinner Rahul Chahar took three wickets out of these four and suddenly brought excitement to the match. But Ramesh Mendis scored an unbeaten 15 to give Sri Lanka an honor-saving victory. This is Sri Lanka’s second ODI win this year. Fernando was awarded the Player of the Match. India’s Suryakumar Yadav got the Player of the Series award.
For India, Chahar took three wickets for 54 runs while Chetan Sakariya got two wickets for 34 runs. Both the teams will now play a three-match T20I series from July 25.
Earlier after winning the toss, opting to bat first, the Indian team was all out for 225 runs in 43.1 overs. Openers Prithvi Shaw and Sanju Samson got off to a good start. The duo put on a 74-run partnership for the second wicket after skipper Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed for 13. While Prithvi scored 49 off 49 balls with the help of eight fours, Samson scored 46 off 46 balls with the help of five fours and a six, although there was no long partnership after that. Suryakumar came in the middle and took over the innings, but he too could not play a long innings. He scored 40 runs in 37 balls with the help of seven fours. After this the position of India faltered. The situation became such that after the start of the game after rain, the team lost five wickets within 36 runs.
The fourth wicket fell in the form of Manish Pandey for 157 runs. Eight wickets fell for 195 runs, although in the end, Rahul Chahar and Navdeep Saini made a small partnership of 29 runs in difficult times to take the team beyond the score of 220, but both could not add more runs. After Rahul was dismissed on the score of 224, Navdeep also returned to the pavilion behind him and the team was all out on the score of 225.
Akila Dhananjaya and Praveen Jayavikrama bowled brilliantly for Sri Lanka and broke the back of Indian batting. Dhananjay took three for 44 in 10 overs, while Jayavikrama took three for 59. Dushmantha Chamira also took two wickets for 55 runs in 8.1 overs. Chamika Karunatne and captain Dasun Shanaka also got a wicket each.
