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Dunith Wellalage picked five wickets to help SL win an ODI series against India in 27 years. India clashed against Charith Asalanka-led Islanders in the final clash of the white-ball tour, at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on August 7. After trailing the ODI series 0-1, the Rohit Sharma-led side took on their counterparts intending to level the series after losing another game by 32 runs, after the first ODI ended in a tie. The game saw the Sri Lankan skipper winning the toss and inviting the rivals to field first.
The hosts got off to a fiery start with Pathum Nissanka playing a knock of 45 runs off 65 deliveries and Avishka Fernando playing a knock of 96 runs off 102 deliveries. The momentum was continued further by Kusal Mendis as the keeper-batter came up with a knock of 59 runs in 82 deliveries. Indian bowlers, including the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel, who are known for delivering magic through their bowling failed to come up with a decent performance and conceded 78 and 41 runs, respectively.
Debutant Riyan Parag picked up a total of three wickets while conceding 54 runs in nine overs. Sri Lanka put up a total of 248 on the board with the loss of seven wickets. In return, Indian batters who were hopeful of making up for their average fielding show, couldn’t do magic. Indian batting stars Star batters including Virat Kohli, keeper-batter Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and even all-rounder Axar Patel couldn’t deliver magic with bat.
Towards the end, while Washington Sundar’s batting gave some hope to Indians back at home, Kuldeep Yadav’s wicket shattered it all. Indian men, under the guidance of Gautam Gambhir, failed short of 110 runs and lost the game as well as the series 0-2 (3). Dunith Wellalage picked a total of five wickets to guide the side to a historic win over neighbours in a bilateral series for the first time since 1997.
