"Hardik Pandya is a little bit overrated in ODIs" - Twitterati slams Pandya and Indian team for their poor performance against Sri Lanka in the final ODI
Sri Lanka successfully managed to avoid a clean sweep by picking up a comprehensive victory against India in the third ODI at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Friday night. It was Sri Lanka's first win since May when they last won an ODI by defeating Bangladesh in Dhaka.
Indian bowlers were indisciplined as they gave away many extras and were not accurate for the majority of the second innings. Fans took notice of India's defeat and slammed some of the players for their erratic fielding efforts.
Navdeep Saini, Nitish Rana, and Manish Pandey were the prime culprits for India in the fielding department today.
Here are some of the reactions:
Earlier in the day, India won the toss for the first time in the series. A visibly delighted India skipper Shikhar Dhawan chose to bat first without any hesitation and made fans happy. Dhawan(13) hit consecutive boundaries off Akhila Dhananjaya but soon perished trying to hit Chameera in the offside.
Debutant Sanju Samson joined hands with Prithvi Shaw at this stage, and the duo took the team forward by stitching a 74-run partnership for the second wicket. Shaw started his innings aggressively in his signature style but later toned it down and played sensibly after the powerplay concluded.
Sanju Samson also complimented his partner by playing a controlled inning at the other end. However, Shaw could not capitalize on his good start as Dasun Shanaka dismissed him on 49 in the 16th over to provide a much-needed breakthrough for his side.
Samson also followed in Shaw's footsteps and departed for a well-made 46. The Rajasthan Royals skipper tried to bring up his maiden ODI fifty on debut by hitting the ball over the extra covers. But he failed to get the desired timing and elevation in the shot, which resulted in a simple catch for Avishka Fernando.
The match was halted due to a rain interruption with Suryakumar Yadav and Manish Pandey in the middle. After the resumption, the officials decided to make it 47 overs per side affair due to loss of time.
Sri Lankan spinners Akila Dananjaya(3/44) and Praveen Jayawickrama(3/59) spun a web around Indian batsmen after play resumed after the rain delay. That triggered a collapse of the lower middle-order to bundle out India for a modest score of 225 in 43.1 overs.
Avishka Fernando(76) played a wonderful knock in the chase to take Sri Lanka home and give them their first victory in months.