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Colombo: Avishka Fernando scored a brilliant knock of 96 and Dunith Wellalage took five wickets as Sri Lanka beat India by 110 runs in Colombo on Wednesday to register their first win over their South Asian neighbours in a bilateral One-Day International series in 27 years.
Facing a tough victory target of 249 runs and tied at 1-1, India failed to build any momentum after losing its two most experienced batsmen – captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli – and eventually scored a disappointing 138 runs in 26.1 overs.
The Indian captain launched the attack early as Rohit was caught for 35 off Veeralagu, the spinner then trapped Kohli at leg for 20 and from then on, India could not arrest their slide at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said: “I am very happy to be a captain now and I think the team has performed very well throughout the series.”
“We knew they had a very strong batting line-up and we just wanted to back our strengths and our strength is spin. We backed our spinners and they did (the job).”
Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer also lost to Veeralag, who finished with figures of 5-27 after removing last-man Kuldeep Yadav. Washington Sundar fought back for India in the dying minutes, scoring 30, but his efforts went in vain.
The first ODI match ended in a dramatic draw, before Sri Lanka won the second match by 32 runs. India swept the previous Twenty20 series 3-0 in new head coach Gautam Gambhir’s first stint as head coach.
Rohit said his team’s difficulties against the spinners are not a problem yet but need to be addressed.
“This is the pressure we are under in the series. We need to study, discuss and make a plan,” Rohit said.
When asked about complacency within the team, he flew into a rage, calling such a suggestion a joke.
“You can’t be complacent when you play for India. As long as I am here as captain, there will be no such situation,” Rohit added.
“We were at a disadvantage throughout the series. You have to give credit where it’s due. Sri Lanka played better than us.”
Sri Lanka chose to bat first after winning the toss and scored 89 runs with openers Pathum Nissanka and Fernando combining to get off to a good start in their first ODI series win over India since 1997.
The home side were unfazed by Nissanka being dismissed by Axar for 45 in the 20th over, with Fernando and Kusal Mendis continuing the attack until Riyan Parag broke the deadlock with 82 on his ODI debut and triggered a mini-collapse.
Parag nearly hit a hundred when he hit a slip-slip shot that trapped Fernando at the leg side, then removed captain Charith Asalanka and Wellalage to reduce Sri Lanka to 199-6, but Mendis’ 59 ensured the team finished on 248-7. —Reuters
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