(July 31), Third T20I between Sri Lanka and India: If Suryakumar Yadav hadn’t erred on the penultimate delivery, the Super Over might have been averted.
India won the third and final match of the T20I series 3-0 at the Pallekele International Stadium on Tuesday, kicking off the new era under captains Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir. The match came after a thrilling Super Over match. Despite Khaleel Ahmed’s 18th over, which featured 12 balls, Sri Lanka disintegrated in the final overs, just as they had in the first two games. Part-timers Rinku Singh and Suryakumar bowled the final two overs, during which the batters managed to score just nine runs. Washington Sundar’s outstanding over in the tie-breaker sealed a clean sweep for India over Sri Lanka.
However, if Suryakumar hadn’t made a mistake, the Super Over might have been averted. The captain took two wickets in three balls, allowing the team to defend just six runs in the final over. However, Asitha Fernando stopped him from completing a perfect hat-trick on the fourth ball.
Chamindu Wickramasinghe of Sri Lanka slapped the outside-off delivery off his backfoot towards long-off and pushed hard for two runs with five to chase in the last two deliveries. At the non-striker’s end, Riyan Parag easily collected the ball and threw it back to the captain. With Fernando well away from the crease, Suryakumar grabbed it but instead of removing the bails, he threw it back to wicketkeeper Sanju Samson.
Feeling embarrassed by his performance, Suryakumar gestured to Samson that he had overlooked the crowd’s applause when he had missed the call about the run-out.
Wickramasinghe again pushed for two runs when he smacked Suryakumar’s longer delivery towards long-on in the last ball. At the non-striker’s end, Shubman Gill, who was positioned at the boundary, effortlessly grabbed the ball and threw it back to the captain. The other Sri Lankan batter, Asitha Fernando, would have been out if Suryakumar had caught the fielder’s decent throw and broken the stumps. However, Fernando made the crease and he was unable to gather it neatly, forcing a Super Over.
Before Suryakumar ended the match in the first delivery against Theekshana by smashing a boundary towards fine leg, Sundar took two wickets in three balls in the tie-breaker, setting India a target of just three runs.
