In the third Twenty20 International (T20I) match between India and Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Tuesday, July 30, after India was reduced to 48/5 in the first innings, Suryakumar Yadav was pleased with his team’s show of grit. To complete a 3-0 series whitewash, the tourists defeated the hosts in a Super Over.
Many people praised Suryakumar Yadav for his unusual captaincy decisions during the low-scoring thriller.
By the end of the 15th over, Sri Lanka was comfortably ahead at 108/1 and needed just 30 runs in the same number of balls to prevent a complete rout. The Indian bowlers, however, forced the opposition hitters to work hard for their runs and ultimately forced the game into a Super Over.
The Men in Blue’s death overs performance, which came after they had successfully protected 30 runs off the final five overs in the T20 World Cup final last month, sent Indian supporters on a nostalgic trip. Rinku Singh and Suryakumar, an unlikely combination, caused the most damage this time around, unlike in the summit match, where Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya bowled the final two overs.
With six wickets in the bank, Sri Lanka needed just nine runs to win the final two overs. With barely 60 deliveries under his belt in his ten-year T20 career, Rinku bowled the penultimate over, giving up just three runs and taking two wickets, while Suryakumar bowled the final over, taking two wickets for five runs to send the match into a Super Over.
“I thought 140 was a fair score on that track and the way they batted, more so than the last over, when we were about 30 for 4 and 48 for 5. The boys showed character in the middle and took the game away from them.” During our fielding practices, I informed them that I had witnessed similar games. I believe we can succeed if we give it our all for one and a half hours,” Suryakumar remarked.
Before taking out Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera in the Super Over, Washington Sundar gave up just two runs. India won the match after a hard-fought victory because to Suryakumar’s boundary from Maheesh Theekshana’s opening ball.
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In the T20I series, Sri Lanka’s batting was dreadful; in all three games, they had unbelievable batting collapses. In the forthcoming ODI series against India, which kicks off with the opening game on Friday, August 2, the Lankan Lions will want to start anew.