For the first time in the entire series, Sri Lanka gave some competition to the Indian side. With this win, Team India take a 2-nil lead against Sri Lanka in the 5-match ODI Series. Thanks to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and MS Dhoni’s partnership, India maintained their undefeated run in this series.
Toss went in favour of India as he decided to put the Lankans into bat. Like always, Indian bowling started off well and hit the right areas. Also, the Indian spinners exploited the wicket well, restricting them to 121/5 at one stage.
However, Milinda Siriwardena and Chamara Kapugedara added 91 runs for the 6th wicket. Thus, with this partnership, Sri Lanka crossed the 200-run mark. One stage it looked like Sri Lanka would pass 250 runs. However, with Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling at the death, Sri Lanka could manage only 236 runs.
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During India’s batting, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan provided the team with the best of starts. The duo added 109 runs for the opening wicket. However, the off-spinner Akila Dananjaya showed his worth as his bowling led possibly the worst collapse in ODI history. He took six wickets in his six overs ripping through the entire Indian batting line-up. They later found themselves at 131/7 and looked in a winning position.
But MS Dhoni’s calm and composed supportive innings matched with Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s heroics helped India win by three wickets and added 100 runs for the 8th wicket. Akila Dananjaya was, however, named the Man of the Match despite being on the losing team.