The Men in Blue began the era of new head coach Gautam Gambhir in disappointing fashion as they ended up losing the 3-match ODI series to hosts, Sri Lanka
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Colombo: Sri Lanka and faced off for the final match of the 3-match ODI series at the R Premadeasa Stadium in Colombo. The hosts were in a 1-0 lead in the series coming into this match as the first match had ended in a tie while the second one had been won by Sri Lanka. Even if India ended up winning the match, still they would only be able to draw the series. The hosts won the toss and opted to bat first.
The opening pair of Pathum Nissanka and Avishka Fernando finally got going and formed a big opening stand. Both hit some brilliant shots and were looking in great form. Axar Patel came to India’s rescue in the 20th over as he broke the 89-run stand and dismissed Nissanka on 45. However, Fernando showed no signs of stopping and went on to score his first half-century of the series.
The next batter, Kusal Mendis also played some great strokes and formed a big stand with Fernando who was already smashing the Indian bowlers in every corner of the stadium. The latter looked set to score a century however, his plans were shattered by debutant Riyan Parag who dismissed him for 96 in the 36th over to end the 82-run stand between Fernando and Mendis. Sri Lanka was 171/2 and was in quite a strong position at that time. But, from that point on, the wickets started to tumble.
The likes of Charith Asalanka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Janith Liyanage and Dunith Wellalage were all dismissed in quick succession It looked as if the hosts will fall short of the 240-run mark, but the important stand of 36 runs between Kusal and Kamindu Mendis carried them to a total of 248/7 after 50 overs. Parag was surprisingly India’s best bowler as he took 3 wickets and gave away 54 runs in 9 overs.
In reply, India got off to an explosive start thanks to skipper Rohit Sharma. However, they ended up losing their first wicket in the 5th over as Asitha Fernando cleaned up Gill for only 6 runs. Star batters, Rohit and Virat Kohli tried forming a big partnership but, Wellalage also got Rohit’s wicket in the 8th over to reduce India to 53/2 after 7.1 overs. After Rohit fell, the Indian team started falling like a house of cards.
The Sri Lankan spinners yet again turned out to be a big problem for the Indian batters as Maheesh Theekshana dismissed Pant before Wellalage took the big wicket of Kohli. Washington Sundar’s 30 runs would prove to be the second-highest individual score for the Indian team as the rest of the batters (except for Parag) couldn’t even make it to double figures. Wellalage ended up taking a 5-wicket haul while last match’s hero, Jeffrey Vandersay ended up taking 2 wickets and Theekshana took another 2 wickets as India was dismissed for only 138 runs in 26.1 overs.
Sri Lanka ended up winning the match by 110 runs and with this victory, sealed the ODI series by 2-0. This defeat marked a disappointing start to Gautam Gambhir’s era as India head coach and they will definitely be looking to improve their ODI form in future matches as there isn’t a long time left for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 either. The defeat also saw India lose a bilateral series against Sri Lanka for the first time in 27 years.
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