Sri Lanka pulled off a consolation victory in the 3rd and final ODI against India at Colombo as the home side chased down a target of 227 with 3 wickets to spare. The three match series ended with a scoreline of 2-1 as India had won the first two matches earlier this week.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Avishka Fernando powered the Dasun Shanaka-led side with half-centuries in the first half of the chase. The opening partnership was broken in the 6th over of the match with Gowtham scalping Minod Bhanuka’s wicket. Fernando and Rajapaksa added 109 runs for the 2nd wicket and laid the foundation for the win. India was sloppy in the field as they dropped multiple catches and that aided Sri Lanka’s batters.
K Gowtham’s catch to dismiss Rajapaksha sparked a change in fortunes for India as Sri Lanka were reduced to 144/2 in 22.6 overs. Chetan Sakariya then picked another wicket as the Dhawan-led side crawled back into the match. Wickets fell at regular intervals as Rahul Chahar spun a web around the Sri Lankan middle-order batters.
The Indian bowlers took firm control of the proceedings but it wasn't enough as Sri Lanka steadily inched closer to the target and got past the finish line in 39 overs.
Earlier in the game, India opted to bat first after winning the toss and posted 225 on the board. The Shikhar Dhawan-led side made as many as six changes to their line-up from the 2nd ODI and handed 5 debuts to Nitish Rana, Sanju Samson, Rahul Chahar, Chetan Sakariya and K Gowtham.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and elected to bat first and hit a hat-trick of boundaries at the start of the second over before he was dismissed in the following over. India were reduced to 28/1 in 2.3 overs. Sanju Samson then came out to join Prithvi Shaw and let the Mumbai batter take charge, but later the wicket-keeper changed his gears as the duo notched a 74-run partnership for the 2nd wicket.
Both the batters were dismissed within a span of 17 balls and fell short of their half centuries as India were 118/3 in 18.4 overs. Suryakumar and Manish Pandey then joined forces at the crease to resurrect the innings before the rain had its say and play was stopped after the 23rd over.
Post the rain break, the match was reduced to 47 overs. The bowlers brought Sri Lanka back into the contest as runs dried up for India. The Sri Lankan spinners dominated the latter half of the innings as Jayawickrama and Akila Dananjaya picked 3 wickets apiece.
The two teams will now clash in a 3-match T20I series which starts on Sunday, 25 July. This will be India’s last T20I series before the T20 World Cup in October.
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