Sri Lanka vs India: Jasprit Bumrah is SK player of the day for his maiden five-wicket haul
Indian bowling sensation Jaspirt Bumrah picked up his maiden five-wicket haul in international cricket in the third ODI of the five-match series against Sri Lanka. The 23-year-old has been in excellent form throughout the series and has already picked up 11 wickets in three games.
Bumrah is undoubtedly the best-limited overs bowler India has today. He's one of the best tricks under Virat Kohli's sleeve. He is a death overs specialist but also scalps a couple of wickets at the top of the order more often than not. With this, he also became the first Indian since Stuart Binny to have taken a five-wicket haul in an ODI.
Here is how he drilled through the Sri Lankan batting order:
1: He drew the first blood even today when he trapped Niroshan Dickwella leg-before-wicket in the fourth over of the match. It was originally given not out but MS Dhoni's brilliant judgment led Kohli to ask for a review, which overturned the umpire's decision.
2: After that, he bowled a good-length delivery outside the off-stump that caught the outside edge of Kusal Mendis's bat. The chance was converted into a wicket by Rohit Sharma's stunning effort at second slip.
3: The youngster scalped his third wicket of the day in the 40th over of the match. Lahiru Thirimanne was batting well on his comeback to the team and looked well settled on 80*. That's when Kohli turned to his most reliable bowler and as always, Bumrah came up with the goods when Thirmanne flicked his full delivery to Kedar Jadhav at midwicket.
4: Sri Lanka's Man of the Match with the ball in the last game could not survive against Bumrah's fire today. Akila Dananjaya tried to guide Bumrah's straight, tight ball to the leg side. However, he missed the line completely and the ball cascaded right into the woodwork.
5: Bumrah's fifth wicket couldn't have gone any other way but for the batsman to get bowled. That's exactly what happened. Bumrah did what he does best, banged the ball right into the blockhole and dismissed Milinda Siriwardana.
The youngster was involved in the first three dismissals of the game, two of which came off his own bowling. He completed the third dismissal by taking a smart catch in the outfield, thereby putting the stops to a 72-run partnership.
Bumrah was India's major contributor in curtailing the hosts to a below-par score of just 217. He bowled 10 overs, took 5 wickets, gave away just 27 runs.
It truly can't get better than this, can it?