49.4 overs: Sri Lanka 238 (Thirimanne 67, Mathews 55, Tharanga 48, Bhuvneshwar 5-42) v India
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Bhuvneshwar Kumar‘s maiden five-wicket haul in ODIs led an impressive bowling effort from India to bowl Sri Lanka out for 238 in the fifth ODI at the Premadasa Stadium. Sri Lanka failed to build on their first century stand of the series – 122 for the fourth wicket between Lahiru Thirimanne and Angelo Mathews – and lost their last seven wickets for 53 runs.
Having left out Hardik Pandya for the first time in 18 ODIs, India chose an extra specialist bowler in his stead. All of them enjoyed a productive afternoon on a slow, used surface barring Shardul Thakur, who went for 38 in a four-over new ball spell and only bowled two more overs. India do not have too much of a target between them and a 5-0 whitewash, but they will have to chase it down without a genuine allrounder at No. 7, and in less-than-perfect batting conditions.
India scored 375 on the same pitch on Thursday, but it had morphed into a drier, grippier creature by the time Upul Tharanga, returning from his two-match over-rate suspension, won the toss, which was delayed by 40 minutes thanks to rain. Tharanga then proceeded to belie the slowness of the pitch, using his gifts of eye and timing to clatter nine fours in a 34-ball 48. Thakur, only playing his second ODI, bore the brunt of his punishment, pitching too full in the search for swing and occasionally dropping short as well.
In that time, however, Niroshan Dickwella and Dilshan Munaweera fell cheaply at the other end, both batsmen driving too early at Bhuvneshwar’s knuckle ball. Bhuvneshwar’s control and changes of pace kept Sri Lanka from running away against the new ball, and India were right on top when Jasprit Bumrah got one to nip away from Tharanga off the seam to have him caught behind in the 10th over.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed his maiden ODI five-for © AFP
Sri Lanka, however, were going at over a run-a-ball at that point, thanks to Tharanga’s innings, and that early momentum allowed Thirimanne and Mathews the time to play themselves in as they began to rebuild. Virat Kohli introduced spin early, bringing Kuldeep Yadav on in the 11th over, partnering him with Kedar Jadhav in the 18th, and calling up Yuzvendra Chahal in the 22nd.
Between them, the three spinners went on to bowl 24 overs and conceded only five boundaries between them while picking up two wickets. Driving and lofting were tricky propositions given the slowness of the surface and the amount of turn on offer, and Thirimanne and Mathews did not – and could not, given the situation Sri Lanka were in – take too many risks. But they put their experience to use, and swept, nurdled and check-drove their team towards a platform to launch a late assault from.
Both had brought up their fifties when Bhuvneshwar returned to bowl the 39th over with Sri Lanka 181 for 3. He struck immediately, going around the wicket to cramp Thirimanne and forcing him to play on while trying to guide one to third man. Then Kuldeep, returning to the attack in the 42nd over, took out Mathews with the first ball of his new spell, sending down a wrong’un that caught the leading edge of an attempted lap-sweep.
At the crease were two batsmen with 5 and 0 against their names, and Sri Lanka had it all to do, all over again. The inexperience of their lower order came under the spotlight. MS Dhoni dropped Wanindu Hasaranga off an edged cut only for the batsmen to give him the opportunity to make amends with a helpful mix-up between the wickets. Akila Dananjaya stepped out to Chahal and missed the line of a topspinner.
A pair of sixes, one each from Milinda Siriwardana and Malinda Pushpakumara, promised to spark some sort of fightback, but both fell almost immediately afterwards, to full-tosses from Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar. Then Lasith Malinga holed out to Bhuvneshwar, and Sri Lanka folded two balls short of lasting 50 overs.
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo