Indian bowlers put up a staunch shift as the Men in Blue clinch series at Eden Gardens

India and Sri Lanka duked it out in a cutthroat encounter at the Eden Gardens as the Indian domination over the Lankans in the last one decade extended to another glistening chapter. 

As Sri Lanka stood on the cusp of a must-win match against the mighty Men in Blue, Dasun Shanaka won an important toss and opted to bat first. With the pitch in Kolkata being always infamous for its twisting and turning demons, Sri Lanka managed to brave the Indian bowlers emphatically for the first part of the innings. Avishka Fernando and debutant Nuwanidu Fernando were off to an absolute blinder until Mohammed Siraj returned with an absolute belter.

However, the opening scalp of Avishka Fernando did very little to dampen the Lankan spirits as an incoming Kusal Mendis dropped anchor at one end while Nuwanidu hacked away at the loose deliveries at the other.

A returning Kuldeep Yadav proved to be the game-changer as he got the better of Kusal Mendis with a googly while Axar Patel cannoned through the defences of Dhananjaya de Silva with a seraphic skitter that took a slight deflection of his pads along its way to the poles.

Fernando and Asalanka did try to put a stopper in the rapid descent but could only do it for a brief period as a gun of a throw from Shubman Gill after a failed catching effort accounted for the debutant. The fall of Nuwanidu was followed by a staggering collapse as the visitors could only put in shards of resilience in front of India’s rampaging juggernaut. 

The ninth wicket stand between Kasun Rajitha and Dunith Wellalage seemed to be brewing something significant but Mohammed Siraj came to India’s deliverance once again as he produced a mishit from Wellalage to get India back and followed it with a peach to remove Lahiru Kumara.

Even though the total seemed pretty fangless per se but the Eden surface has always been a competitive track and the team chasing never have had it easy. The Indian openers got off to a flyer for sure but couldn’t sustain the momentum as Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli were back to the pavilion in very quick succession.

Shreyas Iyer joined forces with KL Rahul and tried to steer the Indian ship to safety but to very little avail as the former fell to Kasun Rajitha offering a glimmer of hope to Sri Lanka of getting back in the series. However, Hardik Pandya arrived in the middle with an entirely different set of plans and despite a slow start, he managed to accelerate later while KL Rahul played a responsible sentinel at the other end.

Sri Lanka did manage to bite India back in the latter stages of the game but those weren’t intimidating enough to make India break a sweat. KL Rahul stood tall as India tiptoed their way to another emphatic series victory against Sri Lanka. All eyes would now turn to Kerala as the caravan is to arrive next there with the final rubber of the contest lined up to be played on Sunday in Thiruvananthapuram.