Sri Lanka posted a below-par total of 215 in the second ODI against Team India on Thursday, January 12, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The hosts currently lead the three-match series 1-0.
The visitors batted first in the contest after their skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss. With not much swing on offer, the Sri Lankan openers started things off on a decent note.
Avishka Fernando (20) tried to be the aggressor by hitting a couple of boundaries but failed to build on his start. Mohammed Siraj cleaned him up in the sixth over to give India their first breakthrough.
Debutant Nuwanidu Fernando (50) and Kusal Mendis (34) put on a 73-run partnership for the second wicket to stabilize the innings. Kuldeep Yadav (3/51) came in at this juncture and spun a web around the Lankan batters, triggering a middle-order collapse.
Umran Malik (2/48) and Axar Patel (1/16) complemented him perfectly by chipping in with a couple of wickets. Mohammed Siraj (3/30) then came back in the 40th over to wrap things up by picking up the last two wickets.
Speaking at the mid-innings break, Siraj reflected on India's bowling performance and said:
"When we started, there wasn't much pace in the wicket. So we wanted to keep it stump to stump. There was no swing on offer so the idea was to create as much pressure as we can from one end and try to take wickets from the other. KL bhai was telling me that the ball stopped swinging after the first few overs.
"I was focusing on the wobble seam and consistency, which gave me the wickets. It's a good batting wicket. Kuldeep bowled really well to force a collapse in the middle overs. Very good performance from all the bowlers."
Fans react after Team India bundled out Sri Lanka for 215 in the 2nd ODI
Fans on social media enjoyed a great bowling performance from Team India in the second ODI against Sri Lanka. They expressed their reactions through some hilarious memes on social media.
Here is a collection of the best reactions:
At the time of writing, the Men in Blue are 46/2 with Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer at the crease following the dismissals of Rohit Sharma (17) and Shubman Gill (21).
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