Dinuth Wellelage announces his entry to the big time in fruitless performance against India – BY TREVINE RODRIGO IN MELBOURNE (eLanka Sports Editor)
Cricketing prodigy Dinuth Wellelage was a Lone Ranger in Sri Lanka’s fruitless effort to upset economic heroes India, as the home team showed spark with the ball, then slumped to a competitive 41- run defeat in Colombo.
The Lankans first loss, after a record breaking 13 consecutive wins, clouded what could have been a memorable upset if the batsmen acknowledged a stirling performance by an undermanned Sri Lanka attack who found two unlikely heroes.
Dinuth Wellelage and Charith Asalanka combined to bamboozle a strong Indian batting line-up restrict them to 213 all our in 49.1 overs. That was another unusual record the Lankans established in 14 games, bowling the opposition out in this format.
But it was Wellelage who announced himself to the big time, grabbing 5 for 40 in ten overs, then giving the batsmen a lesson on application and proper approach with a man- of -the- match performance scoring a brisk 41 not out and subjecting India to some trepidation before they succumbed to a lower order collapse.
India skipper Rohit Sharma top scored with 53 off 48 balls with the customary arrogance and aggression with 2 sixers and 7 fours.
But Sri Lanka struck back with purpose removing Kohli, and the dangerous batters at regular intervals to stifle a world class batting line-up thanks to Wellelage and Asalanka, two almost unknown quantities, to give their batters a chance to produce the goods. They were devastatingly from a Sri Lankan perspective, not up to it.
Stung by the events before, India in true fashion sprang into action to nullify the tormentor. And who better than missing champion Jasprit Bumrah, 2 for 30 and Mohamed Siraj to terrorise the top order.
They quickly brought back parity carving up the Sri Lanka top order to reduce them to 6 for 99 and with in-form Kuldeep Yardav4 for 43 and Ravindra Jadeja 2 for 33 and Hardik Pandiya 1 for13, they overcame a spirited fightback by Dhananjaya De Silva and Dinuth Wellelage when the chips were down, to put the result out of reach.
Asalanka who is seldom used, stumped all with a stunning return of 4 for 19 off 9 overs to stun the star studded Indian batting giving the hosts a dream to produce the unthinkable. The Sri Lanka batters did not have the same mindset to capitalise on an ideal opportunity.
The 20-year old rising star put the rest of the team on notice for lack of belief and fight in a rare winning situation against a top ranked team.
The continued failure if Skipper Dasun Shanaka have the Wolves continue to bay for his blood before the World Cup despite a match winning performance against Bangladesh.
The tricky dilemma lies squarely on the selection committee decision whether to stick with an underperorming skipper or gamble on dropping him and appointing a new leader for the upcoming World Cup.
That decision will weigh heavily on how Sri Lanka perform on the bigger stage. Fan view or sensible decision will determine their path ahead.
Sri Lanka’s plucky performance against its dominant neighbour has set the stage for a rematch in the final if the Lankans beat Pakistan in their deciding encounter.
A loss still gives them a chance if the game is close, after India annihilated Pakistan. The net run rate will be the ultimate decider in this case.
Dasun Shanaka’s fate lies on the games ahead.
