Colombo: Sri Lanka completed a famous series win on Wednesday, their first in ODI cricket against India since 1997.
Following a tied result in the series opener, Sri Lanka won the second ODI by 32 runs, and followed it up with a resounding 110-run victory in the final game here at R Premadasa Stadium.
India’s batters take pride in playing spin well, but in this series they were badly exposed by Sri Lankan tweakers.
Bowled out in all three matches, 27 of the 30 Indian wickets fell to spinners — their most in a three-match bilateral ODI series,
Except for skipper Rohit Sharma, who top-scored with 58, 64 and 35 in all three games, none of the others came to terms with the pitches which offered plenty of assistance to the slow bowlers. Virat Kohli had a disappointing series, with scores of 24, 14 and 20.
Rohit lost all three tosses, and Sri Lanka had no hesitation to bat first on every occasion. It wasn’t easy to chase scores around 240-250, but the Indians were definitely expected to do better.
On Wednesday, Sri Lanka looked to be on course to a total of around 300 as they reached 171/1 in the 36th over. Opener Avishka Fernando missed a century by 4 runs, Kusal Mendis made 59 and Pathum Nissanka got 45, before Indian bowlers pulled it back to restrict Lankans to just 65 runs in the final 12 overs.
Left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage bagged 5/27, while offie and leggie Maheesh Theekshana and Jeffrey Vandersay claimed two each to bowl India out for a paltry 138 in 26 overs.
Brief Scores
Sri Lanka 248/7 in 50 overs (Avishka Fernando 96, Kusal Mendis 59, Pathum Nissanka 45; Riyan Parag 3/54).
India 138 all out in 26.1 overs (Rohit Sharma 35, Washington Sundar 30; Dunith Wellalage 5/27).
Result: Sri Lanka won by 110 runs.
Series: Sri Lanka won 2-0.
Man of the Match: Avishka Fernando
Man of the series: Dunith Wellalage.
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