Lanka grab consolation win in third ODI as India claim series
Chasing 226 for victory in the reduced 47-overs-a-side contest, Sri Lanka depended on a 109-run second-wicket stand between Fernando (76) and Rajapaksa (65) to achieve their target with 48 balls to spare. India won the three-match series 2-1
Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa hit half centuries as Sri Lanka beat India by three wickets for a consolation win in the rain-hit third one-day international on Friday.
Chasing a revised target of 227 in the reduced 47-overs-a-side contest, Sri Lanka depended on a 109-run second-wicket stand between Fernando (76) and Rajapaksa (65) to achieve their target with 48 balls to spare in Colombo. India won the three-match series 2-1.
Sri Lanka collected 10 Super League points for the 2023 World Cup qualification and won their first ODI against India since 2017.
Debutant leg-spinner Rahul Chahar returned figures of 3-54, taking key wickets including Fernando to put Sri Lanka in trouble before Ramesh Mendis steered the team home with an unbeaten 15.
Spinners Akila Dananjaya and debutant Praveen Jayawickrama took three wickets each to set up the win as India were bowled out for 225 in 43.1 overs ater being put in to field first.
Sri Lanka lost wicketkeeper-batsman Minod Bhanuka early for seven but the right-let batting pair of Fernando and Rajapaksa put the chase on track.
Rajapaksa completed his maiden ODI fity but soon fell to let-arm quick Chetan Sakariya - one of the five debutants fielded by India - ater hiting 12 boundaries in his 56-ball knock.
Chahar sent back Fernando as Sri Lanka slipped to 214-6 and got one more wicket in Chamika Karunaratne before Sri Lanka won.
Earlier Jayawickrama, a let-arm spinner who returned figures of 3-59 on his ODI debut, combined with Dananjaya to trigger a middle-order collapse as India slipped from 179-4 to 195-8.
India, who had sealed the three-match series ater two successive wins, elected to bat first and started strongly, only to lose their way ater a 100-minute rain delay.
Dananjaya struck twice in one over to ratle the Indian batsmen before Rahul Chahar (13) and Navdeep Saini (15) put on 29 runs for the ninth wicket to give their team a more respectable total.
The tourists were 147-3 when rain stopped play ater the 23rd over and lost all their 10 wickets in 43.1 overs.
The two sides will now play three Twenty20 internationals starting Sunday at the same venue.
India fielded five debutants in a ODI for the first time in over 40 years. Samson, Rana, Sakariya, Krishnappa Gowtham and Chahar got their ODI caps.
While wicketkeeper-batsman Samson and leg-spinner Chahar have already represented India in the T20 format, batsman Rana, spinbowling all-rounder Gowtham and let-arm seamer Sakariya played for India for the first time in any format.
The last time the Indian team featured these many first-timers was back in December, 1980 against Australia in Melbourne.
Kirti Azad, Sandeep Patil, Roger Binny, Dilip Doshi and Tirumalai Srinivasan were given their ODI caps on Dec.6, 1980 against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Since there was no T20 cricket back then, it was the first time all five had donned India colours in international cricket.
Quite unsurprisingly, Indians lost that match by 66 runs ater folding for just 142 in response to 208/9 made by Australia.
Despite the massive loss in that match, India took back a few positives.
Sandeep Patil, who was one of the debutants, earned the man-of-the-match award scoring 64 off 70 deliveries.
Scoreboard:
India (47 overs maximum)
P Shaw lbw b Shanaka 49 S Dhawan c Bhanuka b Chameera 13 S Samson b Jayawickrama 46 Pandey c Bhanuka b Jayawickrama 11 S Yadav lbw b Dananjaya 40 H Pandya lbw b Jayawickrama 19
N Rana c Bhanuka b Dananjaya 7 K Gowtham lbw b Dananjaya 2 R Chahar c and b Karunaratne 13 N Saini c Fernando b Chameera 15 C Sakariya not out 0
Extras (lb1, w9) 10
Total (all out, 43.1 overs) 225 Bowling: Chameera 8.1-0-55-2 (w5), Dananjaya 10-0-44-3, Karunaratne 6-0-25-1 (w2), Jayawickrama 10-059-3 (w2), Shanaka 8-0-33-1, Mendis 1-0-8-0
Sri Lanka (target 227 from 47 overs)
A Fernando c Shaw b Chahar 76 M Bhanuka c Sakariya b Gowtham 7 Rajapaksa c Gowtham b Sakariya 65 D de Silva c and b Sakariya 2 C Asalanka lbw b Pandya 24 D Shanaka c Pandey b Chahar 0 R Mendis not out 15 C Karunaratne st Samson b Chahar 3 A Dananjaya not out 5 Extras (b4, lb6, nb5, w15) 30
Total (7 wickets, 39 overs) 227 Bowling: Saini 5-0-27-0 (w1, nb1), Sakariya 8-0-34-2 (w1, nb2), Chahar 10-0-54-3 (nb2), Gowtham 8-0-49-1 (w6), Pandya 5-0-43-1 (w7), Rana 3-010-0