By: Tarish Bhatt
The Indian team had their backs against the wall. They needed someone to bail them out in Pallekele. In MS Dhoni they got a wise general. He struck an unbeaten fifty and stitched a match-winning partnership with Rohit Sharma.
Dhoni and Sharma added an unbeaten 157 runs for the fifth wicket. They ensured a six-wicket win for India with 29 balls to spare. With this win the Indian team also sealed the five-match series with two games to spare.
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Earlier, the Lankan Lions could only manage to post 217-9 in their 50 overs. Jasprit Bumrah produced a scintillating bowling effort and took a fifer. Lahiru Thiramanne, meanwhile, scored a fighting fifty for the Islanders.
“Small targets are always tricky. If it happens 2-3 times, it isn’t an issue,” Virat Kohli said. “We’ve chased small targets convincingly before. Here it was the case of the wicket being a little challenging.”
“A couple of those wickets, you wouldn’t get those wickets 8 out of 10 times. Rohit was outstanding, MS was great as well. These things happen, the [young] guys will learn in the middle order, we have to be patient with them.”
