Sri Lanka v India 3rd ODI: MS Dhoni-Rohit Sharma partnership and other talking points
Pallekele: It was a bitter end to the third ODI at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, where India won the game by six wickets. The match witnessed crowd trouble as Sri Lanka fans started throwing bottle on the ground when India inched closer to victory.
Virat Kohli-led Team India have put up wonderful show throughout the tour so far. The visitors won the Test series (3-0) and have taken unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match ODI series. Sri Lanka on the other hand have barely stood up to the challenge presented by Virat Kohli’s side.
In the third ODI, The batting line-up failed to put in a big total on board as the Indian batsman chased down the target easily despite losing early wickets.
Here, we look at 5 talking points which changed the match.
Jasprit Bumrah’s maiden five-wicket haul
Bumrah showed why he is one of the most exciting talents in world cricket as he was the star of the Sri Lankan innings, finishing with a spell of 5-27. The Indian pacer did the early damage by picking up two quick wickets in the powerplay. The death-over specialist kept on picking wickets in the end to restrict Sri Lanka to small total of 217-9 from 50 overs.
Lahiru Thirimanne’s fighting knock goes in vain
After losing two early wickets, Lahiru Thirimanne anchored the Sri Lankan innings. Along with Dinesh Chandimal , Thirimanne added 72 runs for the third wicket before Chandimal was dismissed by Hardik Pandya for 36 runs.
The left hander showed Sri Lanka what they missed in their batting line up. His 80-run knock consisted of just five fours and one six. His effort though fell short as the other batsmen failed to capitalize and post challenging total for a strong Indian batting line up.
Rohit Sharma comes to the party with a hundred
Star batsman Rohit Sharma brought his mojo back as he scored an unbeaten 124 to guide his team to victory. Rohit along with Mahendra Singh Dhoni put on an unbeaten 157-run stand to ensure a smooth victory for Team India and also clinch the ODI series.
After losing his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan and captain Virat Kohli in quick succession, the hitman took the responsibility to take the team out of trouble and with MS Dhoni in company, Rohit went from strength to strength notching up his first hundred in Sri Lanka.
KL Rahul and Kedar Jadhav’s performance under review
Both KL Rahul and Kedar Jadhav had a disappointing show with the bat. While Rahul is taking time to get used to the middle order role, Jadhav has been struggling to get going with the bat.
Rahul has failed to hit the ground running in the series and with Manish Pandey available as backup, his place in the middle-order seems to be under microscope.
Jadhav had been at sea against Akila Dananjaya. Inspite of a pathetic performance with the bat, the middle-order batsman had been able to perform well with the ball with his part-time bowling.
MS Dhoni tackles Akila Dhananjaya threat
Sri Lanka’s mystery spinner Akila Dananjaya continued to trouble the Indian batsman with his bowling variations. In the second ODI on Friday, Dhananjaya scalped six Indian wickets – Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel to bring Sri Lanka on the brink of victory.
The 23-year-old once again threatened to derail India’s innings. His first wicket came in the form of Lokesh Rahul and in the very next over he got the wicket of Kedar Jadhav to restrict India to 61/4. MS Dhoni‘s calm presence at the crease ensured that Dananjaya was unable to pick up any more wickets.
It was a fantastic all-round show by Team India in the third ODI. Jaspreet Bumrah’s maiden five-wicket haul and along with an unbeaten 157-run partnership between Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni ensured the Men in Blue clinched the series in style.
