Washington, Surya, and Rinku Lead India to Super Over Victory Against Sri Lanka in The 3rd T20I
With key performances from Washington Sundar, Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh, India clinched a thrilling Super Over victory against Sri Lanka, completing a 3-0 series sweep in Pallekele.
Though Sri Lanka dominated most of the match, they lost seven wickets for 22 runs due to a stunning collapse.
Sri Lanka 137 for 8 (Perera 46, Kusal Mendis 43, Rinku 2-3, Suryakumar 2-5) tied with India 137 for 9 (Gill 39, Parag 26, Theekshana 3-28, Hasaranga 2-29). India won the super over.
Sri Lanka outperformed India in all three categories for the most part of the game, but they suffered a significant collapse in the latter stages. They had six wickets remaining and just nine runs to score from the final two overs. Having never bowled in a Twenty20 International before, Rinku Singh sent down the 19th over while taking two wickets and giving up just three runs.
Sri Lanka now needed to score six runs from six balls. With the ball turning a mile, Suryakumar Yadav made the decision to come on, giving Mohammed Siraj one over remaining. It was his debut time bowling in Twenty20 Internationals. Furthermore, India could only field four players outside the 30-yard line due to their over-rate. However, Suryakumar took two wickets and gave up just five runs to level the game.
Washington Sundar hit a wide to begin the Super Over. However, one delivery later, he had Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera caught at the boundary off consecutive deliveries. Suryakumar stroked Maheesh Theekshana’s opening delivery towards short fine leg, where Asitha Fernando let the ball to pass through his legs for four, with India needing just three runs from their Super Over.
Rain caused the match to start one hour later than scheduled earlier. After winning the toss, Sri Lanka chose to send India in and held them to 137 for 9, thanks to a new pitch that benefited both seamers and spinners. It was an even more remarkable feat considering that Matheesha Pathirana did not bowl an over during the innings. After suffering a right shoulder injury in the seventh over while fielding a ball, the fast bowler left the game. He came back towards the end of the inning, but he didn’t take a wicket.
Sri Lanka then got off to a 58-run start in 8.5 overs thanks to Nissanka and Kusal Mendis. Similar to the first two Twenty20 Internationals, Kusal Perera’s 46 off just 34 balls pulled them closer, but their middle order imploded, with no one scoring even five, giving India the victory.
India changed their starting eleven four times to ensure that every member of the team played in at least one game. Starting cautiously against Chamindu Wickramasinghe, Shubman Gill—who had missed the previous game due to neck spasms—was up against the rookie. Yashasvi Jaiswal attempted to take on Theekshana by hitting the spinners for two fours in three balls, but he was unsuccessful. However, Theekshana misplayed a sweep and trapped him leg before base on the very next ball.
For his second duck in as many games, Sanju Samson misplayed Wickramasinghe to sweeper cover in the following over. Promoted to No. 4, Rinku lasted just two balls before falling victim to Theekshana’s second blow. He attempted to go inside out over covers, but Pathirana made a fine catch rushing to his right from mid-on because of the wicket’s turn and slowness. In the final over of the powerplay, Suryakumar hit a sweep from well outside off straight down the neck of fine leg, dealing Asitha Fernando another blow.
After six overs, with India at 30 for 4, Gill and Shivam Dube attempted to steady the innings. However, Ramesh Mendis had Dube caught behind, and Kusal Mendis made the catch on the second try, so the pair could only add a run-a-ball eighteen. In the ninth over, Gill and Riyan Parag helped India pass fifty. After two overs, Ramesh Mendis gave Parag a four, ending a 33-ball boundary drought.
Shortly after, the spinner erred on the fuller side and he sent Wanindu Hasaranga over deep midwicket for two sixes in three deliveries. Before Hasaranga dismissed both of them in the same over, Parag and Gill put up 54 off 40 balls. It was Gill who left first. As he hit the ground, the turn beat him and left him stumped. After three balls, Parag mishit a half-tracker into the deep midwicket’s grasp. India were on the verge of being bowled out at 105 for 7 in the sixteenth over.
Washington demonstrated his value at bat by starting at No. 8 in his first game of the series. Along with Ravi Bishnoi, he scored 32 runs off of 24 balls for the eighth wicket, including two fours and a six in his 18-ball 25. With their collaboration, India managed to reach a respectable 137 for 9 after scoring 35 runs in the final five overs. The Sri Lankan spinners bowled 14 overs at a combined 6 for 107 in Pathirana’s absence.
With only four runs scored in the first two overs, Nissanka and Kusal Mendis got off to a poor start. In the third over, Nissanka then hit three fours off Khaleel Ahmed, breaking the chains. He reverse-pulled Washington past cover-point for another boundary two overs later.
In the powerplay, Suryakumar gave Mohammed Siraj a third over since India knew they needed wickets. He did create an opportunity, causing Kusal Mendis’s bat to edge outside, but Samson dropped it because he was caught off guard behind the stumps. In the subsequent over, Kusal Mendis swept Bishnoi for consecutive fours, exacerbating the pain.
Nevertheless, India prevented Sri Lanka from winning the game handily. In the ninth over, they eventually made headway when Nissanka chipped Bishnoi to long on.
After ten overs, Sri Lanka was 61 for 1, with 77 runs still needed to reach the mark. However, Kusal Perera adopted an aggressive approach, hitting five fours in the subsequent five overs. The equation was reduced to 30 balls from 30 balls as a result. India defeated the same opposition in the T20 World Cup final, but they were without their heroes from that match—Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, and Hardik Pandya—on Tuesday night.
Even after Washington dismissed Hasaranga and Charith Asalanke off consecutive deliveries and Bishnoi had Kusal Mendis leg before wicket, Sri Lanka remained the favorites as they needed just 21 from 18 balls. After thereafter, Khaleel threw an 11-ball over that contained five wides to tip the odds even further in Sri Lanka’s favor. However, the hosts were unpleasantly surprised.
Suryakumar Leads India to Super Over Triumph: “I Told the Team I Had Seen Such Games”
Similar to the T20 World Cup final a month ago, India managed to score thirty runs off thirty balls once more, and Suryakumar Yadav was one of their heroes. This time, however, he did it as the 20th over’s bowler, defending five runs by taking two wickets.
India’s skipper led by example with the ball as his squad put up a valiant defense of 137.
In this T20I series, Sri Lanka’s batting has been incredibly fragile. In three games, they crumbled three times: nine for thirty, seven for thirty, and seven for twenty-two. They would be especially wounded by Tuesday’s disaster because Rinku Singh had taken two of their wickets in the 19th over. Throughout his T20 career, which dated back to 2014, he had only ever bowled 60 deliveries. And when the skipper took the ball, two more wickets fell. In the previous five years, he had bowled just twice in first-class, List A, and T20 cricket.
Also Read: Suryakumar Leads India to Victory: A Thrilling Start to the T20I Series
By putting his faith in two rookie bowlers to bowl the final two overs, Suryakumar’s cunning as captain forced the match into a Super Over, where he scored the game’s deciding runs. Despite India having just 137 players on the board, he stated at the presentation that he was confident they could win.
“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 may have taken into account the spin-friendly conditions in all three games, given that his 20th over bowling was not in line with his original strategy.
Riyan Parag stated, “We didn’t feel nervous because it was enjoyable.” We had such a great time planning it, and Rinku bhai bowled the 19th over. I thought Siraj bhai would bowl the final over, but Surya bhai bowled the last over and took it to a Super Over. I believe that everyone was quite relaxed. We were enjoying ourselves. That is also one of our maxims. We were able to pull this off today because we are being merciless while still having fun and enjoying the game.”
Expert bowlers performed their duties as well. In the 17th over, Washington Sundar got two wickets in two balls, removing both the leading all-rounder for Sri Lanka, Wanindu Hasaranga, and captain Charith Asalanke, causing havoc in the chase. He then took two wickets in two balls when he came out for the Super Over.
“I guess all work I’ve done, and a lot of blessings from God definitely helped me,” Washington stated. “I just wanted to try to maintain my composure and concentrate on doing my job. I’m also really appreciative of Surya for throwing the ball to me in that [Super Over] scenario.
“We practiced a little against their batters. Naturally, there was some purchase in the wicket as well, so I didn’t really need to exert that much effort. I merely needed to frequently reach the appropriate lengths. The remaining individuals were present.
In past games, Suryakumar demonstrated his willingness to attempt unconventional tactics by using Parag’s part-time spin to bowl in the final overs. In fact, Parag has bowled 9.2 overs more than any other bowler for India in series, second only to Ravi Bishnoi (12 overs). He was very happy with how his legbreaks were developing.
Parag stated, “I’ve been working on it.” It has required some time. I’ve given it a shot in local games. Before the competition, I had a couple net sessions, and things were going fairly well. I just spoke what I wanted to say. Just go for it, urged Surya bhai. It went fairly well when I bowled it with my free hand.”
In the third Twenty20 International, when he bowled four overs for 27 runs, Parag had an easy strategy. The idea behind today’s bowling was to keep it stump to stump, get a lot of revs behind the ball, and the wicket was assisting so I didn’t really have to do much. It’s always easy to get carried away when it’s turning so much. All I had to do was hit the correct spots. And at the end, Rinku bhai and Surya [laughs].”
