Sri Lanka stun India to win 3rd ODI

Despite losing their 9th consecutive bilateral ODI series against India, the depleted Sri Lankans produced an inspired fightback to win the final ODI in Colombo by 3 wickets. Spinners Akila Dananjaya and Praveen Jayawickrama picked up 3-wickets apiece to restrict India to a below-par total of 225, while half-centuries from Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa helped the hosts win their first ODI at home against India since 2012.

Having already secured the series victory, India made as many as six changes to their line-up with five debutants named in the side for the final ODI, and eventually, it was this lack of experience with both bat and ball that cost the visitors dearly in the 3rd ODI.

Despite losing Shikhar Dhawan early on, India started brightly Prithvi Shaw carrying on from where he left off in the 1st ODI. Shaw was given good company by debutant Sanju Samson, as they got India off to a great start in the powerplay and continued to find the fence with their crisp timing. Both batters looked good to get a big score on a great batting surface but were untimely dismissed in their 40’s right before the rain delay.

The rain interruption seemed to have removed all momentum from India’s innings, with India scoring only 78 runs following the break for the loss of 7 wickets. Jayawickrama dismissed Manish Pandey and Hardik Pandya soon after the resumption of play with the Mumbai Indians all-rounder continuing his disappointing run of form throughout the series. Suryakumar Yadav continued to play some flamboyant shots but became the third Indian batter to be dismissed in his 40’s after being trapped on the pads by Akila Dananjaya. 

The off-spinner made further inroads and removed Indian debutants Krishnappa Gowtham and Nitish Rana in the same over as India collapsed from 179-4 to 195-8. Rahul Chahar and Navdeep Saini offered some resistance for India, stitching together a 29-run partnership, but the visitors were eventually dismissed for 225 without completing their quota of 47 overs.

Sri Lanka got off to the perfect start to their chase with Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa sharing a century partnership for the hosts. Fernando adopted the more cautious approach while Rajapaksa took the aggressive route, scoring 12 boundaries in his innings of 65. Rahul Chahar and Chetan Sakariya showed some promise on debut, but the Indians failed to hold on to their catches in the field and put enough pressure on the hosts as Sri Lanka eventually secured the consolation victory despite losing a cluster of wickets towards the end.