Pallekele: A five-wicket haul by Jusprit Bumrah, followed by a fantastic century (124 off 145 balls) from Rohit Sharma and a half century (67 off 86 balls) from Mahendra Singh Dhoni helped India beat Sri Lanka in the third ODI to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five match series at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli said: “Small targets are always tricky. If it happens 2-3 times, it isn't an issue. We've chased small targets convincingly before. Here it was the case of the wicket being a little challenging. A couple of those wickets, you wouldn't get those wickets 8 out of 10 times.”
Praising Rohit Sharma for his astounding ton, Kohli said that he was outstanding. “Rohit was outstanding. MS was great as well. These things happen, the [young] guys will learn in the middle order, we have to be patient with them. Bumrah's got 11 wickets in three games, he's bowled really well. He's among our top short-format bowlers at the moment. He hits the right areas, bowls at pace, and in the death overs he's like a fish in water. We have a squad of 15, we'll look to give some guys a go, see how their game stands up in different situations. We've won three, and we can definitely afford to give them a few opportunities,” added Kohli.
Sri Lankan captain Chamara Kapugedera said: “I thought it was a good wicket, so put some score on the board and hopefully we can defend, and like the last game we hoped it would grip a bit in the evening. Things didn't go to our plans. We discussed about not playing dot balls in the middle overs, but things didn't work out. 260-275 would have been a challenging score. I enjoyed captaincy - it was pressure, but I enjoyed it, and hopefully we can win next time.”
Jasprit Bumrah, who was the Player of the Match said, "It's always good when you get a break. You can work on your strengths and refresh when you come back. This was a different wicket. Last match it was a bit slow, but this time there was a bit of seam movement with the new ball. It's a good feeling whenever you're able to contribute to the team's success.”
