Sri Lanka v India, 3rd ODI: CT Player of the Match - Jasprit Bumrah

India won the third ODI comfortably in Pallekele and have taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series. Bumrah’s five -wicket haul coupled with Rohit Sharma’s magnificent century which made Sri Lanka look helpless in what was, in a way, another one-sided encounter barring an opening spell of last match’s hero Akila Dananjaya.

The off-spinner once again threatened to take the game away from India as he scalped KL Rahul and Jadhav Jadhav in quick succession. They had already lost Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli cheap before that it looked like the hosts might give them a run for their money. But it was once again MS Dhoni who brought a sense of calm to the innings and along with Rohit and, they made sure that the team did not lose any more wickets. The duo added 157 runs for the fifth wicket as the former Indian captain remained not out for the whopping 121st time in ODIs which is already a world record.

Career best performance 

For the first time on this tour, the Sri Lankan captain rode his luck at the toss and surprisingly decided to bat first even after losing the first two games doing the same. The openers though, could not justify the decision as they lost the wicket of Niroshan Dickwella. Bumrah bowled a searing yorker to the left-hander which pinned him in front of the stumps. Kohli straight away went for the review when the umpire gave it not out and had it reversed. This was the first of the day for the bowler and was about to have an excellent day.

A couple of overs later, Bumrah scalped the biggest wicket of Kusal Mendis as he poked at an away going delivery. It was a beautiful delivery as he had set Mendis up for the dismissal. Bumrah kept hitting the deck and made the ball jag away as he troubled the batsman. Mendis just wafted at the ball to give the catch to the second slip where Rohit Sharma snaffled the smart take. Sri Lanka could never recover from these blows until the end. Bumrah, by then had wonderful figures against his name: 5-2-9-2.

Even after the pacer was rested following his superb spell, Sri Lankan batsmen could not relax as the disciplined Indian bowlers kept coming at them. Even though there was a partnership between Dinesh Chandimal and Lahiru Thirimanne, it was extremely slow. Hardik Pandya and Kedar Jadhav picked crucial wickets of Mathews and Chandimal and kept the hosts at bay in the middle overs.

Bumrah came back for his final spell at the death where he is at his best normally. He right away baffled Thirimanne with his slower ball as the batsman played the ball bit early to hit it directly into the hands of midwicket fielder Kedar Jadhav. Axar Patel shattered the stumps of Kapugedera after that to rock Sri Lanka further.

The young Jasprit was again in the spotlight as he disturbed the timber of Akila Dananjaya and Milinda Siriwardana in the death overs. First, he dismissed the former with a full delivery hitting the wood and then uprooted the stumps of the dangerous looking Siriwardana with a similar delivery. The 23-year-old kid achieved his career best figures in this game.

Sri Lanka could only score 217 thanks to his 5/27. Bumrah is looking a great prospect for India in 2019 World Cup and he will only improve from here on. The chase was perfectly led by Rohit Sharma as he stayed unbeaten till the end along with MS Dhoni. The opener scored a magnificent 124 as the ever cool Dhoni once again anchored the chase with a brilliant 67.

Unfortunately, the match had to be stopped as the spectators threw the bottles at the ground when India needed 8 runs. Eventually, the visitors completed the formality as they won comfortably by 6 wickets. Despite Rohit’s century, it was tough to look beyond the maiden fifer of  Jasprit Bumrah as he is the CT Player of the Match.