N ANANTHANARAYANAN
Jasprit Bumrah grabbed his maiden five-wicket haul in One-day Internationals to restrict Sri Lanka to 217 for nine in the third ODI at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
The 23-year-old, in outstanding form in this series, struck twice early before
Thirimanne, 28, who last played an ODI in January 2016, struck his 17th halfcentury and hit five fours and a six in the must-win game for the hosts with India leading 2-0.
The Sri Lankan team, struggling for a foothold in the series, desperately needed an anchor and the two men recalled to the side helped provide a modicum of resilience.
Dinesh Chandimal, the Test skipper who had been controversially left out of the initial ODI squad, had come in only after skipper Upul Tharanga was suspended for the team’s slow overrate on Thursday.
The 27-year-old, asked to open as Dhanushka Gunathilaka is out due to a shoulder injury, made a patient, 71-ball 36, showing oldfashioned virtues of building innings. That allowed Thirimanne to be more aggressive. The pair shared 72 runs for the third wicket.
Jasprit Bumrah, who had six wickets from the first two games including four in the last game at the same venue, bowled great length and line and found seam movement. He trapped opener Niroshan Dickwella (13) and then beat Kusal Mendis (1) for pace, Rohit Sharma taking a diving catch wide in the slip cordon.
Thirimanne and Chandimal built the innings from 28 for two. Chandimal, whose ODI form this year has not been great, hit Bhuvneshwar for three fours, but was hit on his right thumb from a Hardik Pandya short delivery.
Chandimal resumed after getting his hand taped, but Pandya treated him to more short deliveries. He jarred the thumb again, trying to regain the crease and eventually fell chipping the allrounder to square leg.
Thirimanne drove Hardik for four boundaries on way to his fifty. Leg spinner Yuzhvendra Chahal began well but then went for runs, which included Thirimanne’s six over midwicket. The Sri Lankan looked set for a century, but Bumrah foxed him with a slower one, which he chipped to Kedar Jadhav at midwicket.
Hardik Pandya claimed two wickets while left-arm spinner Axar Patel again made difference with a miserly spell of 1/35.
India, keen to clinch the fivematch series with two games in Colombo to go, retained the playing eleven for the third game in a row.