2024-08-05 07:46:12
Even though he has played 21 ODIs before this, Jeffrey Vanders has no achievements to speak of. What the Sri Lankan leg-spinner did in his 22nd match was truly amazing. Magic bowling took 6 wickets in one spell. India’s batting in reverse.
Chasing an easy target where India were on the way to victory, Gautam Gambhir’s team lost the match after Vanders fell for 6 wickets. Team India lost the second ODI after a tie in the first ODI. Sri Lanka lead the three-match series by 1-0 with a 32-run win.
Sri Lanka’s batting did not go well after winning the toss and batting in Colombo. Indian bowlers kept the target within reach. Sri Lanka scored only 240 runs after losing 9 wickets. In reply, India scored 76 runs in the power play and 97 runs in the opening pair. It seemed that Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill would win the match easily. But Vanders’ donation still remained.
The 34-year-old spinner brought the break through in his second over. Bring back Indian captain Rohit (64). Then Gill (35), Dubey (0), Kohli (14), Iyer (7) and Rahul (0) were his victims one by one. India are 6 wickets short of going from 97 to 147 runs. He got all the wickets. That too in one spell. India could no longer stand up to him.
Sri Lanka captain Asalanka took 3 wickets in the end and the hosts won the match easily. India all out for 208 runs. Akshar Patel reduced the margin of defeat with 44 runs.
Sri Lanka’s batting is also not very good. They lost 6 batsmen to score 136 runs. From there, Dunith Welage and Kamindu Mendis tied the pair. He added 72 runs for the seventh wicket. Welages scored 39 and Mendis scored 40 runs. After their return, the hosts’ innings did not get any bigger.
Washington Sundar took 3 wickets for 30 runs with the ball for India. Kuldeep Yadav got 2 wickets.
The two teams will play the last match of the series at the same ground on August 7. Let’s see if India can salvage the series.