Asia Cup 2023: Wellalage takes 5 wickets as Sri Lanka restrict India to 213 runs

The ‘Men in Blue’ returned to action against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo less than 24 hours after their enormous victory over their bitter rivals, Pakistan. India defeated Sri Lanka in the first innings by 213 runs. Here is a summary of the opening frames.

Rohit and Shubman dominate fast bowlers

Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma picked up where they left off against Pakistan. In the powerplay, they launched an assault against Maheesh Theekshana and the fast bowlers from Sri Lanka. Dasun Shanaka, the Sri Lankan captain, gave up 24 runs in his four overs, while Matheesha Pathirana gave up 27 runs in his three overs. Kasun Rajitha gave up 30 runs in his four overs. 

Rohit scored two half-centuries in a row. He even reached 10,000 ODI runs as he reached his 50-run milestone. Behind Virat Kohli, Rohit passed Sachin Tendulkar to become the second-fastest player to play 10,000 ODIs in 241 innings. 

Dunith Wellalage applies the brake on Indian batting innings

Dunith Wellalage quickly grabbed Shubman Gill’s wicket after the powerplay with his first ball of the game. He struck the stumps with a delivery that initially persuaded Shubman to try a front-foot defence but spun away enough to get past the outside edge. Wellalage even claimed the valuable wicket of Virat Kohli, the last match’s centurion, in the over after that. Virat attempted to flick this short-of-a-length delivery, but he was unable to keep the ball down, leaving a simple catch for Dasun Shanaka at mid-wicket. He even succeeded in removing Indian captain Rohit Sharma from the game in the following over. Rohit had terrible luck because the ball barely bounced at all, dismissing the half-centurion as a result.

Ishan and Rahul stabilize India’s batting

In just five overs, India went from 80-0 to 91-3, playing the spin bowling of Wellalage, and looked completely lost. They required a partnership which could solidify the innings. Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul did exactly that. For the fourth wicket, they added 63 runs together, helping India pass 150. KL Rahul once again displayed his brilliance by playing an important knock on a pitch that had enough variation to keep every spinner interested. The centurion against Pakistan in the most recent game scored 39 runs on 44 balls. Rahul even scored back-to-back runs off his first two deliveries of the new spell against Wellalage. Once more, Wellalage was responsible for ending the fourth-wicket partnership. Rahul took a delivery that stopped a little bit and chipped it right to the bowler for a straightforward return catch.

Charith Asalanka cleans up India’s lower-order

Just when one would have believed that Wellalage’s threat had subsided, he proved them wrong once more. Thanks to a superb catch by Wellalage, part-time right-arm off-spinner Charith Asalanka was able to dismiss Ishan Kishan. Wellalage then dismissed Hardik Pandya to finish with five wickets. Following that, Asalanka struck out Ravindra Jadeja with an unplayable delivery. On subsequent deliveries, Asalanka removed Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. In this game, Axar Patel, who took over for Shardul Thakur, hit some significant runs down the order. Rain stopped play after India had amassed 197 runs in 47 overs while losing nine wickets. The game was restarted once more after a delay of just over 45 minutes. Soon after the delay, India passed the 200-point threshold. With a maximum over long-on in the very first over, Axar demonstrated his intent. Despite the fact that Asalanka had only bowled nine over, Sri Lanka immediately introduced Pathirana into the attack. After reaching 26 runs, Axar was dismissed as Theekshana claimed the final wicket.