India hammer Sri Lanka as Manav Suthar rages through with another scintillating showdown
India completed a rout of Sri Lanka within just half a day of action on the final day in Galle, securing a massive win to surge ahead in the two-match series.
Starting the day at 84/4, Sri Lanka pushed on, hoping to find some momentum. Dhananjaya de Silva (59) and Sonal Dinusha (84) did manage to fight on.
The two added 58 runs more on the final day, to stretch the partnership to 95 runs. It was Ravindra Jadeja who finally managed to break the stand, claiming Dhananjaya de Silva’s wicket to open up the floodgates for India. Prasidh Krishna doubled down the pressure, removing Niroshan Dickwella (10).
Dinusha pushed as far as he could before Manav Suthar came all guns blazing to mop up the Sri Lanka innings. Suthar got hold of his third wicket of the innings, bagging the crucial scalp of Dinusha, dropping a thunderbolt in the Lankan resistance.
The Sri Lankan tail got curled up even before they could realise what had struck them. They lost their last four wickets for seven runs, courtesy of an extraordinary performance from Suthar. The 24-year-old left-armer ran through the Sri Lankan tail, dismissing Prabath Jayasuriya (0), Lahiru Kumara (0) and Keshara Nuwantha (20), bundling up the hosts within 206 runs.
India secured a win by 165 runs, also bagging 12 crucial points for their WTC campaign. Suthar was the pick of the lot with figures of 6/55 that left Sri Lanka reeling. Devdutt Padikkal won the Player of the Match award for his sensational batting across both the innings.
Brief scores:
India – 462 (Devdutt Padikkal – 167, KL Rahul – 82, Prabath Jayasuriya – 4/109)
Sri Lanka – 284 (Sonal Dinusha – 100, Niroshan Dickwella – 80, Manav Suthar – 4/76)
India – 193 (Rishabh Pant – 66, Devdutt Padikkal – 44, Asitha Fernando – 4/31)
Sri Lanka – 206 (Dhananjaya de Silva – 59, Sonal Dinusha – 84, Manav Suthar – 6/55)
India won by 165 runs
