COLOMBO: Belligerent Dunith Wellalage and Charith Asalanka sliced through India’s top order to help Sri Lanka bundle out Men in Blue for 213 in their Asia Cup 2023 Super Four clash here at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday.
Youngster Wellalage achieved a remarkable feat as he secured his maiden 5-wicket haul, single-handedly dismantling a formidable Indian batting lineup and bagging the wicket of top batters like Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya.
Asalanka also troubled India a lot as he finished with the figure of 4/18 while Dhananjaya De Silva kept things quiet from one end while the other bowlers picked up wickets from the opposite end.
After captain Rohit Sharma’s fifty, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel fought vigilantly against the Lankan spin, taking India to a decent total with their 27-run partnership stand for the last wicket.
Opted to bat first, India got off to a fine start as the openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill hammered Sri Lanka bowlers from the very start of the game. India openers Rohit and Gill steadily took Team India ahead in the game. The duo rotated strikes on a regular basis to keep the scoreboard moving.
Rohit made no mistake and brilliantly hammered the shot off Kasun Rajitha’s delivery as the ball went sailing over the fence for a maximum. With this, Rohit completed his 10000 ODI runs.
Rohit continued his fiery form and this time Dasun Shanaka became his prey. Rohit smashed four boundaries as Shanaka leaked 17 runs.
Dunith Wellalage provided Sri Lanka with the much-needed breakthrough as dismissed Shubman Gill for 19. Gill got completely bamboozled by the spin delivery as the ball rattled up the off-stump.
Rohit slammed a boundary off Matheesha Pathirana’s delivery and brought his half-century in style. It was his 51st half-century in the 50-over format and he slammed it up in 44 balls.
Wellalage in red-hot form provided Sri Lanka with their second breakthrough as he dismissed Virat Kohli for 3. Kohli tried to steal a boundary but failed to time the shot as the ball landed safely into the hands of Dasun Shanaka at mid-wicket.
Wellalage struck thrice and this time Rohit departed after playing a knock of 53. Rohit got completely bamboozled by the delivery and ended up getting clean-bowled.
Ishan Kishan gave a sigh of relief to Team India as he smashed a boundary off Wellalage’s delivery.
Team India finally took a sigh of relief as KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan changed gears. Rahul broke the shackles and smashed two consecutive boundaries off Wellalage’s delivery in the 28th over.
Wellalage bagged his fourth wicket of the match as he removed KL Rahul. The ball gripped the surface before taking the outer half of Rahul’s bat and moving into the hands of the spinner.
Charith Asalanka bagged the wicket of set batter Ishan Kishan. It was a fuller ball and Kishan smashed it hard but failed to get over the extra cover fielder. He went back into the pavilion after scoring 33 runs off 61 balls.
The left-arm orthodox spinner Wellalage completed his five-wicket haul as he bagged the wicket of all-rounder Hardik Pandya. In the 39th over Asalanka sent Ravindra Jadeja back to the pavilion after scoring 4 runs, leaving India tottering at 178/7.
Asalanka gave India two back-to-back bowls as he dismissed Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav in the 43rd over.
Sri Lanka kept things under control. Meanwhile, India’s progress was almost put to a halt by the Sri Lankan spinners.
Rain interrupted the play with India at 197/9 in 47. After a brief halt, India batters Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel gathered 27 runs for the last wicket.
Axar slammed the Maheesh Theekshana delivery right into the hands of Samarawickrama at long on and with this India’s innings ended for 213 runs
Brief score: India 213 (Rohit Sharma 53, KL Rahul 39; Dunith Wellalage 5-40) vs Sri Lanka. (ANI)