Picture Credit: Twitter
Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka grabbed a stunning one-handed return catch during the ongoing third T20I against India at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Thursday. Shanaka bowled a slower one and Rana was a bit early on his shot. Rana's attempted clip shot took a leading edge and was collected superbly by Shanaka in his follow-through. Shanaka dived low to his left to complete a spectacular one-handed catch. Shanaka's brilliant effort came on the last ball of the 9th over of the match.
Here's the video of Shanaka's catch:
Indian batsmen struggle against disciplined Lankan bowling attack
All-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga wreaked havoc in the series-decider as he scalped the crucial wickets of Ruturaj Gaikwad (14), Sanju Samson (0), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (16) and Varun Chakravarthy (0). The Indian batting order did not get a chance to get their eye in as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Birthday boy Hasaranga dismissed Gaikwad (14) and Samson (0) in the same over. The young Indian batsmen Gaikwad, Padikkal, Rana and Samson all failed to grab the opportunity to impress the team management.
There was a lack of experience in the Indian batting order due to the Covid-positive case in the Indian camp. Krunal Pandya had tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Yuzvendra Chahal, K Gowtham, and Deepak Chahar were deemed close contacts of Krunal. As a result, all the eight players had been ruled out of the T20I series.
Sri Lanka took full advantage of the situation and troubled the inexperienced Indian batsmen throughout with their disciplined line and length. The impressive Wanindu Hasaranga scalped 4 wickets in his spell while Dasun Shanaka picked up 2 wickets. Dushmantha Chameera and Ramesh Mendis also got a wicket each. The weakened Team India failed to give a fight to Sri Lanka in the decider and could only muster 81/8 in their quota of 20 overs. Kuldeep Yadav top-scored for India with 23 runs from 28 balls. The KKR spinner, along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (16) led India to a respectable total.