Bhuvneshwar’s fivefor restricts SL
SAME STORY Sri Lanka falter again as pacer’s five for 42 leaves India with chance to sweep series
slog overs, but the innings never found any late momentum.
Skipper Upul Tharanga, back after serving a two-match ban for his team’s slow over-rate, elected to bat on winning the toss. The left-handed batsman promoted himself to open and scored a 34-ball 48, targetting rookie pacer Shardul Thakur for most of his nine fours.
Thirimanne and Mathews then added a patient 122-run fourth-wicket partnership to rebuild the innings after Bhuvneshwar and Jasprit Bumrah had reduced it to 63 for three in the 10th over. India surprisingly made some fielding errors, but nothing hurt them.
Niroshan Dickwella started the series with a half-century but has struggled after that. The lefthander again fell for two runs, tamely hitting back to Bhuvneshwar. There was no early seam movement despite the pitch being under covers, after start of play was delayed by over 30 minutes due to drizzle in the afternoon.
Bhuvneshwar showed his craft to keep the batsmen in check, but Shardul Thakur, playing in only his second match, leaked runs at the other end. Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga hit Thakur for a flurry of off-side boundaries as he pitched it up and gave too much width. However, Bhuvneshwar, who had not taken many wickets until Sunday, struck a second time. Newcomer Dilshan Munaweera hit him for a straight four, but his eagerness to cash in before the 10-over powerplay phase ended only saw him miscue the next delivery.
Virat Kohli back-pedalled and timed his backward jump to complete the catch.