Team India won the 3rd India vs Sri Lanka ODI at Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam by 8 wickets on December 17. Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan slammed s terrific 84 -ball century and remained unbeaten till the end. Shreyas Iyer, who came to bat at number 3, remained the second top-scorer of the day. He got the 2nd ODI fifty of his career in just the third game and scored 65 off 63 balls. India chased down an easy target of 215 with 107 balls to spare.
India finishes the year on a happy note with winning the 8th bilateral ODI series on the trot.
It was a much-needed start for the Lankans when they came to bat earlier in the afternoon. Upul Tharanga and Danushka Gunathilaka did all the talking with their bats. On the other hand, the Indians were lucky enough to get the first breakthrough in the 4th over. However, the next 19 overs turned out to be the toughest one.
After the dismissal of Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarwickrama and Upul Tharanga added 121 runs for the second wicket. At one point, it seemed that the Lankans may create a big problem for the home team but the wrist spinners yet again played their cards. Kuldeep removed Samarwickrama on 49 while Tharanga lost his wicket on 95 and missed his century as well.
Angelo Mathews (17) tried to play some good shots in the middle of the game but couldn’t score big. The spinners made the game tough for the Lankans and they were all out of 215
Both Kuldeep and Chahal bagged 3 wickets each in their respective bowling spells. Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar managed to take one wicket each while Pandya picked up two.
ALSO READ: Shikhar Dhawan reveals what kind of captain Rohit Sharma is — WATCH
With Iyer finding his footing in Mohali, the focus shifts to Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik. In their last four innings, Pandey and Karthik have scored 82 and 105 runs respectively, which is not a good account of the abilities they possess.
One day to go for the final @paytm #INDvSL ODI and #TeamIndia made sure they are fully prepared. pic.twitter.com/BQPHNSZ6X9
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 16, 2017
For Sri Lanka, apart from Matthews, no other batsman has troubled the Indians and they will hence hope that he fires on the big day.
ALSO READ: Dwayne Bravo does not want to return to international cricket, here’s why!
It does not seem any sides will have a change in their eleven on the big day. But one can never predict that.
SQUADS:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni(w), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Siddarth Kaul, Washington Sundar
Sri Lanka: Niroshan Dickwella(w), Upul Tharanga, Kusal Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Angelo Mathews, Danushka Gunathilaka, Thisara Perera(c), Dhananjaya de Silva, Asela Gunaratne, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera, Chaturanga de Silva, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sachith Pathirana.