And that's that! Wellalage is stranded at the other end as India win by 41 runs! This was tossed up as Pathirana looks to sweep. Ends up going between his legs and crashing into the stumps
And with that, it's a wrap from us. Join us again on Thursday for Pakistan v Sri Lanka, which will be a virtual semi-final. But for now, on behalf of Karthik and the team, this is Madushka saying goodnight!
Indian_Pus: "Why did the other Sri Lankan batters get out so easily? Because they thought they had Dunith (done it)" --- Great pun to end the night on.
Adi: "Wellalage => He is definitely captain material in the future. Amazing maturity he is showing. Congratulating India when asked a question about his performance. "
Mukesh : "Wellalage, such a composer during his interview. Salute from Indians!!"
Player of the Match goes to Dunith Wellalage for figures of 5 for 40 with the ball and an unbeaten 46-ball 42: "First of all I want to congratulate the Indian team. Unfortunately we lost the match today, but we have one more game to make it to the final. Kuldeep Yadav is a great bowler, but I tried to play my normal game and stay positive. [How were you feeling?] Since a small age I worked hard, had a positive mindset. Want to thank my teammates and supporting staff."
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma gets an award for the most sixes: "It was a good game. For us also to play a game like that under pressure. Challenged a lot of aspects of our game. We definitely want to play on pitches like to see what we can achieve. [Hardik] He's worked hard on his bowling over the last couple of years, and it's pleasing to see how he bowled that spell. Not an easy target to defend. Pitch got slightly better towards the end so we had to hold our nerve and bowl consistently. [Kuldeep?] Again for the past year or so bowling really well. He's worked hard on his rhythm and you can see the results in the last 15 ODIs he's played. He gives us a lot of options. So going forward it's a pretty good sign."
Surya Kumar Yadav takes the award for Catch of the Match
11.15pm Time for the post-match presentation
This is the points table as things stand. Sri Lanka still has a superior net run rate than Pakistan, what that means is that only a win will do for Pakistan on Thursday. A washout means Sri Lanka will make the final.
Stay tuned, we'll have the post-match presentation in a bit
Azweer : "Kuldeep completes 150 ODI wickets..." --- This went under the radar, but a great spell well capped off.
Saksham: "Like common sense prevailed with the shortened innings break, hopefully they maintain consistency by giving Dunith the POTM award even though he ended up on the losing side."
Prashantha: "Dunith Wellalage a Star is born!!"
Dasun Shanaka: "We didn't expect this kind of a wicket, but after the first 10 overs we came into the match brilliantly with the spinners. The luxury of the two genuine batters bowling is great, they've done well in the nets but it was great how they performed. [Wellalage?] After the last game with Bangladesh I sensed he would do something special."
But despite the result, this was a day that belonged to Dunith Wellalage. With the ball he grabbed a five-for, and with the bat he nearly stole the win for his side. He also took an excellent catch to complete a tremendous all-round performance.
10.56pm So India too good for Sri Lanka in the end, in what turned out to be quite the low-scoring thriller. The margin of victory doesn't tell the whole story, not by a long shot, as Sri Lanka had India genuinely worried when Wellalage and Dhananjaya were going strong in their 63-run 7th wicket stand. But once the latter fell, the tail just couldn't hang on, on what was a difficult surface at the Premadasa and Kuldeep came in to clean house.
Keeps low, turns in from outside off. Does well to keep this out
Pathirana in as last man, can he get Wellalage on strike?
And another one bites the dust! This was just too good, for most batters, let alone a no.9. Googly pitching on middle and leg, and then turning sharply past the back foot defence to clip the top of off. Quality
INDfan: "I can hear only Hindi movie songs in the background at the stadium. Are Hindi and Bollywood so popular in SL?" --- Yes, quite.
full on the pads, worked towards midwicket for one. India happy to allow that single as it keeps Rajitha on strike
Waqas: "Catching "dun" is not only difficult its impossible. Dun ko pakarna mushkil hi nahi na-mumkin hai"
Fantastic take at mid-on! And Theekshana is gone! Theekshana looks to work this onside and ends up chipping it in the air to the right of mid-on, where SKY goes full stretch to his right and grabs it with his right hand. They go upstairs to check, but it's clean. Fantastic work!
again gets nicely behind the line, and defends
Chiru: "We are missing an off spinner especially against a team packed with lefties. Ashwin would have ran through them. " --- Ashwin would've been a nightmare on this track.
back of a length on the stumps, stays back and defends
Crunches this cut in front of square, but just one as there's a man in the deep
Sandeep: "How important was Siraj's handling of crucial 19 balls in last wicket partnership " --- Could end up being the difference.
Swing and a miss! This was full and wide, Wellalage gives this everything but fails to connect
Jadeja ends with figures of 10-0-33-2.
Goes back, gets behind the line and defends.
Wilson: "No Jaddu... you should have thrown that to the keeper where the danger-man was running to..!"
full on the stumps, defended once more
A sincere plea from jacker: "Please keep the dun puns coming, amongst this thriller i need some comedic relief"
full on the stumps, defended on the front foot
comes down the track now and clips this behind square for one
goes back and defends to square leg
Oh my word, chaos but they survive! This was pushed to Jadeja's right for a quick single. Direct hit and Theekshana is gone, not even in the frame. But Jadeja, with one stump to aim at, misses
Rhav: "Not out of the realms of possibility that Wellalage scores the most individual runs in the game, takes a pretty decent catch and the most wickets in the game and still ends up on the losing team. Should be getting MotM at the very least."
good length on off, pushed to the left of short extra cover for one
Dug in short, Theekshana's eyes well off the ball as he evades this
IC: "How will it end? "Dun Dun Dun""
good length on the stumps, defended against as a catching short extra cover scrambles to his right to stop this single
good length, angled in towards leg. Blocked with a full face of the bat
Oldmonk: "Just as I believed this series was marred by rain interruptions and one-sided contests, this game has reignited the excitement!"
good length on off, opens the face and runs it behind point for one
1W | ||||
1W | 3W | |||
1W | ||||
1W | ||||
1W | 1W | |||
R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo | |
Toss | India, elected to bat first |
Series | |
Season | 2023 |
Player Of The Match | |
Match number | ODI no. 4641 |
Hours of play (local time) | 15.00 start, First Session 15.00-18.30, Interval 18.30-19.10, Second Session 19.10-22.40 |
Match days | 12 September 2023 - daynight (50-over match) |
Umpires | |
TV Umpire | |
Reserve Umpire | |
Match Referee | |
Points | India 2, Sri Lanka 0 |