India romped to a glorious 8-wicket win over Sri Lanka at VDCA Stadium to confirm their 2-1 series victory at the VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam
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India might have been feeble in the first match but it was more important for them to turn the tide to win back to back matches in a bid to win the series.
Kuldeep and Yuzi Chahal spun a web around the Sri Lankan batsmen in the first innings, restricting them to a meagre total of 215. Shikhar Dhawan then took over in the second innings, constructing a wonderful 100 to guide India to a 8 wickets win, and to help them script a comeback win over Sri Lanka
Player ratings:
India:
#1. Rohit Sharma – 7/10
Rohit Sharma might not have added flesh to the cards but in Kohli’s absence, he made sure that India won the series.
#2. Shikhar Dhawan – 9.5/10
A scintillating match-winning knock of 85-ball 100 with 13 fours and 2 sixes redefined the art of sheer elegance as Dhawan’s defiance piloted India’s chase with relative ease.
#3. Shreyas Iyer – 8/10
This guy never stops scoring. He performed in the last game and now as well, scoring a crunchy 65 to his credit.
#4. Dinesh Karthik – 6/10
Karthik ensured that India did not lose a wicket in the dying stages of the game and went not out.
#5. MS Dhoni – 8/10
MS Dhoni’s renewed ability to show potential behind the stumps once again came into prominence.
While he did not get a chance to bat today, his wicketkeeping skills were right up there.
#6. Hardik Pandya – 8/10
Hardik Pandya didn’t get chance to bat because of exemplary top-order batsmen that did their job quite well. Hardik Pandya picked 2 wickets and was economical.
#7. Manish Pandey – 5/10
He too didn’t get any chance to bat and neither was he involved in any of the dismissals.
#8. Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 7/10
He picked just one wicket to his name but kept his line and length, and stuck to his plans
#9. Jasprit Bumrah -7/10
Just like Bhuvneshwar, he bagged one to his kitty and was very economical
#10. Kuldeep Yadav – 9/10
The chinaman bowler might not have caught the eyeballs in the series so far.
But, in the third and final match, he was the pick of the bowlers. He picked a total of three wickets to his name.
#11. Yuzvendra Chahal – 9/10
Yuzvendra Chahal picked three wickets to his name, kept a check on the scoring rate and dished out a match winning performance.
Sri Lanka:
#1. Danushka Gunathilaka – 2/10
Once again he was poor to convert it to a good start. Having not performed well so far, he might well be in big trouble.
#2. Upul Tharanga – 9/10
Tharanga deserved a century. He was the lone warrior for Sri Lanka. His 82-ball 95 with 12 fours and 3 sixes was the only talking point in Lanka’s batting.
#3. Sadeera Samarawickrama – 7/10
He stood alongside Tharanga to put a 121-run stand but he could manage to score 42.
#4. Angelo Mathews
Mathews failed to turn up in the crucial match in what cost Lanka dearly.
#5. Niroshan Dickwella (wk)
Dickwella’s single digit score didn’t help the team at all.
#6. Asela Gunaratne
A feeble knock from Gunaratne had no meaning at all when the hunger for scoring runs is put into effect.
#7. Thisara Perera (c)
The skipper was sloppy today. He picked one wicket but didn’t add numbers to the scoresheet.
He did his best to get a win in the first match and other than that, he was far from being impressive.
#8. Sachith Pathirana
The tail-ender Pathirana struggled to keep out to India’s bowling.
#9. Akila Dananjaya
Sri Lanka just picked 2 wickets overall. Akila was one of the bowlers to pick one.
#10. Suranga Lakmal
He didn’t have the best of stint today. Got to feel sad for this player.
#11. Nuwan Pradeep
Neither did he not score nor did he not take a wicket today was such a pathetic thing to witness from Lanka’s bowling.
