The Best of 2017: 5 Best comebacks by Team India

3. Pallekele ODI v Sri Lanka (24 August 2017)

Akila Dananjaya dents India with six-for; MS Dhoni comes to the rescue.

From being well in control of the game with 109/0, team India slipped to 131/7. It was a major debacle of absolute sorts with a certain Akila Dananjaya putting some serious brakes on the Indian run chase. This epic comeback of the Indian team dates back to August when the Indian team toured Sri Lanka. During the second ODI at Pallekele, India won the toss and opted to field first.

The Indian bowlers bowled tight lines to keep the run flow in check. Sri Lanka could only muster 236/8 in their stipulated 50 overs. It was expected to be an easy run chase for the Indian team. The fact that the Indian openers, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, added 109 runs for the first wicket only strengthened this claim. It was just then that Akila had some other plans.

The wily spinner dismissed Rohit Sharma for 54. Soon, he got through the defenses of KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav, and Virat Kohli. Hardik Pandya and Axar Patel also perished soon as Akila finished with 6/54. Certainly, Virat Kohli’s men were in dire straits with over a 100 runs left to be chased and just 3 wickets in hand.

It was MS Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who then stitched an unbeaten 100 run stand to help India win by 5 runs (DL method). Dhoni (45*) played the anchor role as Bhuvi hit a patient 53*. The visitors subsequently went on to drub the hosts by 5-0 in the series.