Sri Lanka produced an embarrassing batting performance in the third ODI against India on Sunday, January 15, as they were bundled out for just 73. Chasing 391 to win, the visitors fell a mammoth 317 runs short of India's total and succumbed to the biggest defeat in ODI history in terms of runs.
The battling line-up for the visitors showed a lot of promise in the T20I series. Unfortunately, most of their star batters struggled to score big in the ODIs. Apart from skipper Dasun Shanaka, who got a hundred in the second ODI, the visitors were ordinary with the bat to say the least.
Fans on Twitter trolled Sri Lanka for another horrible batting performance. One of them tweeted an image with an in-picture caption that read:
"Ye toh shuru hote hi khatam hogaya (This has finished before it started)"
Here are some of the reactions:
Sri Lanka couldn't really recover from Mohammad Siraj's damaging spell
India's stupendous batting display meant Sri Lanka were on the backfoot from the start. Despite the stiff target, the Lankans had a remote chance of putting up a respectable score as the pitch was expected to get easier to bat due to dew in the evening.
However, Mohammed Siraj ensured that he gave absolutely nothing to the visitors in the powerplay.
Avishka Fernando, Nuwanidu Fernando and Kusal Mendis were all dismissed due to some relentlessly accurate bowling from Siraj. The speedster also cleaned up Wanindu Hasaranga later with an absolute jaffa to end with figures of 4/32 from 10 overs.
Although Siraj didn't pick up a fifer, he was well supported by Mohammed Shami and Kuldeep Yadav, who picked up a couple of wickets each. The visitors just didn't have an answer to India's disciplined bowling and have a lot to reflect on after a dark day.
India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
Sri Lanka XI: Avishka Fernando, Nuwanidu Fernando, Kusal Mendis (wk), Ashen Bandara, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara.
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