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In less than 24 hours since their humungous victory over arch-rivals, Pakistan, the ‘Men in Blue’ were back on the field against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. India scored 213 runs in the first innings against Sri Lanka. Here is a recap of the first innings.
Rohit and Shubman dominate fast bowlers
Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill started exactly from where they left off against Pakistan. They took the attack against the Sri Lankan fast bowlers and Maheesh Theekshana in the powerplay. Kasun Rajitha conceded 30 runs in his four overs, Sri Lankan skipper, Dasun Shanaka conceded 24 runs in his overs and Matheesha Pathirana conceded 27 runs in his three overs.
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Rohit scored back-to-back half-centuries. In the process of scoring his 50, he even completed 10,000 runs in ODIs. Rohit overtook Sachin Tendulkar and became the second fastest to complete 10,000 ODI in 241 innings behind Virat Kohli.
Dunith Wellalage applies the brake on Indian batting innings
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Soon after the powerplay Dunith Wellalage struck with his first ball in the match and took the wicket of Shubman Gill. He produced a delivery which first enticed Shubman to try a front-foot defence but then spun away enough to go past the outside edge to rattle the stumps. In his following over, Wellalage even took the prized wicket of the previous match’s centurion, Virat Kohli. This was a short-of-a-length delivery which Virat tried to flick but was unable to keep the ball down giving a straightforward catch to Dasun Shanaka at mid-wicket. In his next over he even managed to take the wicket of Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma. It was very unlucky for Rohit as the ball did not bounce at all and defeated the half-centurion by the insufficient bounce.
Ishan and Rahul stabilize India’s batting
From 80-0 to 91-3 inside five overs, India looked clueless playing the spin bowling from Wellalage. They needed someone to build a partnership and stabilise the innings. That’s exactly what Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul did. They shared a 63-run stand for the 4th wicket getting India past 150. On a pitch that had enough to keep every spinner interested, KL Rahul once again showed his class by playing a crucial knock. The last match’s centurion against Pakistan scored 39 runs in 44 balls. Rahul even hit Wellalage for back-to-back on his first two deliveries of his new spell. It was once again Wellalage who broke the 4th-wicket partnership. It was a delivery which stopped a bit on Rahul who chipped it straight to the bowler for a simple return catch.
Charith Asalanka cleans up India’s lower-order
Just when one could think that the threat of Wellalage was over he proved them wrong once again. Charith Asalanka who is a part-time right-arm off-spinner took the wicket of Ishan Kishan thanks to a great catch from Wellalage. Wellalage then completed his 5-wicket haul by dismissing Hardik Pandya. Asalanka then dismissed Ravindra Jadeja with an unplayable delivery. Asalanka then dismissed Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav on consecutive deliveries. Axar Patel who replaced Shardul Thakur in this game scored some crucial runs down the order. India had scored 197 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 47 overs before rain interrupted.
After a delay of slightly more than 45 minutes, the game was restarted once again. India reached the 200-mark soon after the delay. Axar showed signs of intent in the very first over with a maximum over long-on. Sri Lanka then brought Pathirana into the attack even though Asalanka had only bowled nine overs. Axar was dismissed after scoring 26 runs with Theekshana getting the final wicket.
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