He produced an all-round efficiency, notching up 67 at No. 7 before taking two innings in a game that was tied.
Dunith Wellalage, all of 21, produced an outstanding all-round effectiveness on a strong pitch at Khettarama. Batting at No. 7, he played Sri Lanka's best pitches, hitting 67 not out off 65, in a full of 230 for 8 in the first ODI.
When defending, the left-arm spin took 2 for 39 off nine overs, taking the important innings of Rohit Sharma, who was India's best dough on the hour, and Sri Lanka went on to link the game.
On the bat front, Wellalage had started carefully after coming in at 101 for 5 in the 27th over, but on a surface on which no one really looked set, he seemed the most pleasant batter across both teams, yet striking strong boundaries at the close. For this pitches, he took inspiration from a Sri Lanka team-mate, he said.
Pathum Nissanka, who hit another fifty on Friday, has been the guests ' best dough of the journey so much, having even made plays in the T20Is.
" They have a bunch of skilled bowlers, so the more we can control our faults, the more we can put stress on them", Wellalage said of his wondering during his pitches. Pathum Nissanka bat reportedly caught my attention. I put his batting in my mind as I came up with a plan. If you take the pitch, it was one that supported spin bowling. I tried to put as much pressure on the bowler and build partnerships".
With the ball, he perhaps struck the most important blow of the night. Rohit was threatening to make easy work of the target when he galloped to his fifty off 33 balls. However, Wellalage beat him in flight in the 15th over as he attempted a sweep shot, causing the 58-run loss of the game.
" I was watching Pathum Nissanka bat quite a lot. As I developed a plan, I thought about his batting.
This comes after he had previously dismissed Shubman Gill, this time with a skillfully flighted delivery that Gill top edged high enough for the goalie to identify it. Wellalage had been the first spinner to be introduced, inside the powerplay.
" We knew that the wicket was spinning. So Charith Asalanka had told me that I would be bowling in the powerplay. I had good support from the wicket too.
" With Rohit at the time, I was trying just to bowl wicket-to-wicket, because I knew how much assistance there was from the pitch."
The middle to late overs, were all Wanindu Hasaranga and Asalanka, said Wellalage. In the final over, Asalanka took two wickets before India had already tied the game, taking three more with Asalanka taking the final two. His other wicket, which was caught behind, came from Axar Patel.
Earlier, Hasaranga had removed Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Kuldeep Yadav.
" When we bowled, the game changed with the wickets that Wanindu aiya and Charith aiya took. We were able to at least maintain this score because they took wickets in particularly challenging circumstances. These batters have won numerous matches, if you take Axar Patel and KL Rahul.
When Charith aiya sent Axar out and Wanindu aiya sent KL Rahul out, we needed to get the bowlers in at that time. It was important to stay calm at that stage, and the match turned our way".
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