3rd ODI : Sri Lanka collapse to 215 all out after Tharanga's 95

Sri Lanka collapsed to 215 all out from a promising 160 for two in the third and final ODI against India, undoing the good work done by opener Upul Tharanga. Spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal shared three wickets each for India as Sri Lanka squandered a blistering start provided by Tharanga (95 off 82). The wicket offered decent turn for the spinners but the visitors failed to apply themselves, losing the last five wickets in the space of 18 runs and the last eight for 55 runs. 

Put in to bat by India captain Rohit Sharma, Sri Lanka were cruising with Tharanga and Sadeera Samarawickrama (42) sharing a 121-run stand for the second wicket after Danushka Gunathilaka (13) fell in the fourth over. Tharanga played some superb shots and was not afraid to hit aerial. 

The southpaw hit all his three sixes off Chahal, who otherwise was the best bowler on show with his drift and turn troubling the batsmen. Tharanga played fluent drives and flicks as he forged a fruitful stand with Samarawickrama, who came up with some enterprising strokes of his own. In the sixth over, an edge by Samarawickrama fell short of the Shikhar Dhawan at slips off Bumrahs bowling. Hardik Pandya came in as the first change bowler in the seventh over, replacing Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He was taken for 20 runs in his second over by Tharanga, who looked increasingly confident but got lucky on a few occasions. Chinaman Kuldeep was introduced in the 12th over by the Indian skipper in an attempt to curtail the run flow but the Tharanga-Samarawickrama partnership carried on



untroubled.

The introduction of Chahal in the 17th over did not alter the fortunes much though as the two batsmen mixed caution with aggression to counter him. Tharanga, in particular, went on the attack against the Haryana leg-spinner and smashed three big sixes. Samarawickrama was dropped on 29 by Dinesh Karthik at mid-wicket, when attempting a flick against Kuldeep. It was a tough chance. Pandya was re-introduced into the attack in the 22nd over after a first spell of 3-0-23-0 and Samarawickrama played a fluent punch off the second ball for a boundary.

He looked good for more when he fell for 42, flaying a widish delivery on to the off-side only to be caught by Dhawan at deep-cover. The seasoned Angelo Matthews, who walked in following his exit, put on 24 overs with Tharanga, before the left-hander was stumped by MS Dhoni off Kuldeeps bowling for 95. The opener, who missed out on a well-deserved ton, completed 1,000 runs for the calendar year during the course of the knock. Thereafter, it all went downhill for Sri Lanka.

A lot depended on Matthews after the dismissal of Tharanga, who till the start of the series was Sri Lankas ODI captain. The star all-rounder, looked to be getting into the groove, before being cleaned up by a beauty from Chahal. The leggie got one to turn sharply from outside leg to end Mathews stay at the crease, leaving the visitors at 189 for five. Captain Thisara Perera didnt last long either, falling lbw to Chahal for six. He was caught on the crease, trying to cut the leg-spinners stock delivery.