Following Sri Lanka’s loss to India in the third T20I match, captain Charith Asalanka expressed his dissatisfaction with their batting performance. Asalanka himself was out for a zero in the 17th over, dismissed by Washington Sundar. In a post-match interview, Asalanka mentioned that he was not pleased with the performance of the middle and lower middle order, and criticized the players for playing poor shots. He also expressed hope that his team would perform better in the upcoming One Day Internationals against India.
“I’m quite upset with how our batting lineup performed, particularly in the middle and late middle sections. Poor choices in shots were the main issue. Because the spinners were bowling, Hasaranga was moved up in the order. We allowed him to try for a couple of big hits, but that plan didn’t succeed. We made the wrong shot choices on this type of pitch. When the ball gets older, we need to make perfect shot choices, as it’s tough to score runs on these pitches. We could have reached the target, so we can’t make excuses. As professional cricketers, we need to improve. I hope to see better batting in the one-day games, unlike in the T20s. Our top three and four batters have done well, which is the only bright spot for me. The team will need to perform better,” Asalanka commented.
Summarizing the game, Sri Lanka chose to bowl first after winning the toss against India.
India’s team did well in the first part of the game, with all the batters making contributions to set a target .Shubman Gill scored the most runs for his team with 39 runs from 37 balls, including 3 boundaries. Riyan Parag and Washington Sundar were important in the later part of the innings, helping India reach 137/9 after 20 overs by hitting 26 and 25 runs respectively.
Maheesh Theekshana was the leading bowler for Sri Lanka, taking three wickets and giving away 28 runs in his four overs. Wanindu Hasaranga also took two wickets giving away just 29 runs.
In the final T20 cricket game of the series, Kusal Perera (46 runs from 34 balls, 5 fours) and Kusal Mendis (43 runs from 41 balls, 3 fours) were the best players for Sri Lanka, helping them reach 137/8 and pushing the game into a super over. Pathum Nissanka (26 runs from 27 balls, 5 fours) also contributed while batting.
The main highlight of the match was Rinku Singh and team captain Suryakumar Yadav each taking two wickets in their bowling . The Indian captain gave away six runs in the last over, making the game go into a super over. Ravi Bishnoi and Washington Sundar also took two wickets each in their bowling .
In the Super over, the home team managed to score 2 runs with 2 wickets down after they batted first. When it was India’s turn to chase the runs, Suryakumar Yadav finished the game with the very first ball by hitting a shot towards the short fine leg area for a four.
Washington Sundar received the Player of the Match award. Additionally, Suryakumar Yadav was given the Player of the Series honor.
