India sweep T-20 series in Super Over thriller

Rex Clementine
at Pallekele

Sri Lanka suffered another batting collapse as they surrendered early advantage in the third T-20 International against India to lose the game in the Super Over after scores were tied at Pallekele International Stadium on Tuesday.

Chasing 138 to win, Sri Lanka were well on course having reached 110 for one and needed run a ball with nine wickets in hand. Then the collapse started. They lost nine wickets for 27 runs in dramatic fashion and this game was further evidence that the team has not addressed batting woes.

With plenty of gaps on the field, there were many options to keep rotating the strike or picking up twos, but many experienced campaigners fell trying to clear the boundary on a wicket where the spinners had lot of assistance.

Kusal Perera was the main culprit. He has been the inform batter in the series and was cruising when he attempted to take on Rinku Singh and the all-rounder completed a return catch to start the slide. He made 46 in 34 balls.

India blundered as well but Sri Lanka outperformed their opponents when it came to blunders. Khaleel Ahmed sent down eight wides in the 18th over to reduce the equation to nine runs in the last two overs.

Rinku Singh was called up to bowl the penultimate over and he picked up two wickets to put pressure on the tail as only three runs were scored in the over.

Mohammed Siraj was ready to bowl the final over but the captain changed the plans and brought himself on with the spin bowling options exhausted. He did a terrific job. Suryakumar had never bowled in T-20 Internationals before and had to contain with just four fielders outside the 30-yard circle as India had been slow with the over rate.

He dismissed Kamindu Mendis and Maheesh Theekshana in successive balls to make it six needed in three balls. Asitha Fernando managed a single off the fourth ball, putting debutant Chamindu Wickramasinghe on strike. But he couldn’t find a boundary in the remaining two balls and scores were levelled.

Sri Lanka managed only two runs in the Super Over bowled by Washington Sundar.

Suryakumar opened batting for India with three runs needed for a whitewash. He swept the first ball by Maheesh Theekshana and the short fine leg fielder misfielded and the ball reached the boundary to sum up Sri Lanka’s miserable day.

The teams now move to Colombo for the three-match ODI series.