Sri Lanka 230 for 8 (Wellalage 67*, Nissanka 56, Axar 2-33, Arshdeep 2-47) tied with India 230 (Rohit 58, Axar 33, Asalanka 3-30, Hasaranga 3-58)
At 101 for 5, Sri Lanka were on the verge of an all-too-familiar collapse against India, but they somehow found a way to stay in the contest both with bat and ball and ended up tying the match. Leading Sri Lanka for the first time in ODI cricket, it was Charith Asalanka who sealed the dramatic result by dismissing Shivam Dube and No. 11 Arshdeep Singh off successive balls on a slow, dry Khettarama turner, with the crowd jiving and grooving to his tunes.
With India needing five off 18 balls with just two wickets in hand, it was anybody's game. Dube was threatening to switch into his IPL spin-hitting mode. He had just picked a legbreak from Wanindu Hasaranga and whacked it over wide long-on for six. Asalanka had the option to bring on Asitha Fernando or debutant Mohamed Shiraz, but he took the responsibility upon himself on a surface that had already been used for Qualifier 2 in the LPL last month, and delivered for Sri Lanka.
After playing out the first two balls of the 48th over, Dube flayed the third through the covers and tied the scores. Asalanka pinned Dube lbw next ball with a slider from around the wicket for 25 off 24 balls. Dube was originally given not out, but a successful review from Asalanka overturned the on-field decision and brought the crowd alive. Asalanka then put Colombo in party mode when he also had Arshdeep lbw for a duck next ball. Asalanka had darted in another slider from around the wicket, and Arshdeep missed a slog sweep and was trapped in front.
Sri Lanka's seam attack has been ravaged by injury and illness - no less than five of their fast bowlers are unavailable - but their spin attack is so well stocked that they could afford to leave out Maheesh Theekshana and still field four spinners, including Asalanka. Wristspinner Hasaranga, mystery spinner Akila Dananjaya and left-arm fingerspinner Dunith Wellalage also played their roles with the ball in the win.
It was Wellalage who triggered India's slide by snagging Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma in successive overs after they had forged a 75-run opening stand off 76 balls. Dananjaya, who turned the ball sharply both ways, accounted for Washington Sundar, who had been promoted to No. 4, ahead of both Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. As for Hasaranga, he came away with three wickets, including the big one of Virat Kohli for 24 off 32 balls.
Hasaranga kept Kohli to five off ten balls before he trapped him with a fizzing skidder. Rahul then repaired India's innings with a 57-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Axar Patel. After having played risk-free cricket for the most part of his innings, Rahul tried to slog-sweep Hasaranga only to miscue it to midwicket for 31 off 43 balls. Axar then looked to helm India's chase of 231, but Asalanka had him nicking off with a sharp offbreak for 33 off 57 balls. Dube played a late cameo, but it was not enough for India to get across the line.
India were on track when Rohit, fresh out of T20I retirement and returning to ODI cricket for the first time since the 2023 ODI World Cup, dominated the powerplay. He charged out of the crease second ball and smashed Asitha over midwicket for six and went on to hit nine more boundaries in the first ten overs. He was responsible for 54 of the 71 runs India had scored in that phase.
One of those boundaries - a slog-swept six off Dananjaya - took Rohit to a 33-ball half-century. However, when he looked good for more, Wellalage dislodged him for 58 off 47 balls.
In contrast, Sri Lanka had a more sedate powerplay in which they played out 45 dots and scored just 33 runs. Mohammed Siraj and Dube made early inroads for India, but Pathum Nissanka blunted them, and India's spinners, with a 67-ball half-century. India could have cut his innings short on 20 had Siraj not dropped a difficult chance at fine leg in the powerplay.
Wellalage then rallied with the lower order, adding stands of 41 with Janith Liyanage, 36 with Hasaranga and 46 with Dananjaya. Wellalage, who was promoted to No. 7 ahead of Hasaranga, countered Washington's offspin, hitting him for 20 off 21 balls. He even got inventive, reverse-sweeping Washington over the two slips and ramping Siraj fine of deep third for fours. When Arshdeep pitched one in his arc, Wellalage showed glimpses of his power, too, clearing Siraj at wide long-on. He proceeded to bring up his maiden ODI fifty, off 59 balls.
Washington - picked ahead of Riyan Parag, India's second-most used bowler in the T20I series - though continued to pose a threat with his turn and bounce, as did Kuldeep Yadav. After ripping a couple of deliveries past the outside edge of Asalanka, Kuldeep had the Sri Lanka captain guiding his stock ball straight to Rohit at first slip for 14 off 21 balls.
It was Axar who had set the scene for the day when he found immediate turn and bounce to have Nissanka checking his drive to extra cover. Axar then got his fifth ball to kick up and rag away past the outside edge like Rangana Herath used to back in the day in Sri Lanka. With the pitch offering plenty of purchase to the spinners, Axar didn't go searching for the magic ball and simply tossed the ball up into the footmarks created by Arshdeep.
Sri Lanka's spinners, though, bested India's and forced an unlikely tie, leaving the visitors needing a strong response if they are to win the ODI series.
