India clinch ODI series against Sri Lanka – Sharma’s sublime century, Bumrah maiden five-wicket haul power visitors to victory

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PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka, Aug 27, (AFP): Opener Rohit Sharma’s sublime century combined with a maiden five-wicket haul by paceman Jasprit Bumrah powered India to a series-clinching win against Sri Lanka in the third one-day international on Sunday.

Chasing 218 for victory, Sharma hit a 145-ball 124 not out to steer the visitors home in 45.1 overs, although unruly crowd behaviour delayed their six-wicket win in Pallekele.

Angry home fans threw water bottles onto the field and play stopped as players walked off with India needing eight runs to win. The visitors rode on an unbeaten 157-run fifth-wicket stand between Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who made 67, to take a 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

But it was man of the match Bumrah who set up the win for India after his career-best figures of 5-27 restricted Sri Lanka to 217-9 in 50 overs.

“Bumrah’s got 11 wickets in three games, he’s bowled really well, he’s among our top short-format bowlers at the moment,” Kohli said in praise of the 23-year-old.

“He hits the right areas, bowls at pace, and in the death overs he’s like a fish in water,” Kohli added.

Sri Lankan fast bowlers hurt India’s reply with two early strikes including skipper Virat Kohli for one, leaving the visitors at 19-2. Sharma and Lokesh Rahul, who made 17, then tried to steady the chase with their 42-run partnership before spinner Akila Dananjaya turned on the heat.

Dananjaya got Rahul and Kedar Jadhav for nought in his first two overs.

But Sharma, who made 54 in the team’s previous win, kept his cool amid the madness to register his 12th ODI hundred as he paired with Dhoni to thwart the Sri Lankan bowling attack.

“Small targets are always tricky. If it happens 2-3 times, it isn’t an issue … Here it was just the case of the wicket being a bit more challenging,” said Kohli.

“Rohit was outstanding, MS was great as well. These things happen, the guys will learn in the middle order … we have to be patient with them,” he added.

Earlier, Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimanne scored a 105-ball 80 to give the total some respect after the Chamara Kapugedera-led side suffered from regular wicket-fall.

Thirimanne put on a gritty 72-run stand with Test captain Dinesh Chandimal, who made a sedate 36, but the rest of the batting let the hosts down.

“Things didn’t go to our plans. We discussed about not playing dot balls in the middle overs, but things didn’t work out … 260-275 would have been a challenging score,” said Kapugedera.

“I enjoyed captaincy — it was pressure, but I enjoyed it, and hopefully we can win next time,” Kapugedera, who was standing in for suspended captain Upul Tharanga, added.

Sri Lanka’s worries were compounded with Chandimal suffering a hairline fracture to his thumb while negotiating a bouncer from fast bowler Hardik Pandya.

Bumrah, who shared the new ball with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, got two early wickets in Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis after the hosts elected to bat first.

The fourth ODI is slated for Thursday in Colombo.

Scoreboard

PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka, Aug 27, (AFP): Final scoreboard of the third One-Day International between Sri Lanka and India in Pallekele on Sunday:PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka, Aug 27, (AFP): Final scoreboard of the third One-Day International between Sri Lanka and India in Pallekele on Sunday:SRI LANKAN. Dickwella lbw b Bumrah 13D. Chandimal c Bumrah b Pandya 36K. Mendis c Sharma b Bumrah 1L. Thirimanne c Jadhav b Bumrah 80A. Mathews lbw b Jadhav 11C. Kapugedera b Patel 14M. Siriwardana b Bumrah 29A. Dananjaya b Bumrah 2D. Chameera run out (Dhoni/Kumar) 6V. Fernando not out 5L. Malinga not out 1Extras (b4, lb7, w8) 19Total (9 wickets, 50 overs) 217Fall of wickets: 1-18 (Dickwella), 2-28 (Mendis), 3-100 (Chandimal), 4-138 (Mathews), 5-159 (Thirimanne), 6-181 (Kapugedera), 7-191 (Dananjaya), 8-201 (Siriwardana), 9-210 (Chameera)Bowling: Kumar 9-2-41-0, Bumrah 10-2-27-5, Chahal 10-0-49-0, Pandya 8-0-42-1, Patel 10-1-35-1, Jadhav 3-0-12-1INDIA (target 218)R. Sharma not out 124S. Dhawan b Malinga 5V. Kohli c Chameera b Fernando 3L. Rahul c Thirimanne b Dananjaya 17K. Jadhav lbw b Dananjaya 0M.S. Dhoni not out 67Extras (lb1, w1) 2Total (4 wickets, 45.1 overs) 218Fall of wickets: 1-9 (Dhawan), 2-19 (Kohli), 3-61 (Rahul), 4-61 (Jadhav)Did not bat: H. Pandya, A. Patel, Y. Chahal, J. Bumrah, B. KumarBolwing: Malinga 5-0-25-1, Fernando 8.1-2-35-1, Chameera 10-1-59-0, Mathews 3-0-17-0, Dananjaya 10-0-38-2, Siriwardana 9-0-43-0Toss: Sri LankaResult: India won by six wicketsSeries: India lead the five-match series 3-0Umpires: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI), Joel Wilson (WIS)TV umpire: Paul Reiffel (AUS)Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)

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