Colombo, Aug 3
Sri Lanka's left-arm spin all-rounder Dunith Wellalage, who chipped with an all-round performance - 67 not out and 2-39 - in the tied first ODI against India, said he came up with a batting plan in his mind at the R Premadasa Stadium after taking inspiration from in-form opener Pathum Nissanka.
On a slow and dry pitch which aided spinners, Sri Lanka were in trouble at 101/5, and it seemed they would suffer another batting collapse, just like how it was in T20Is. But Wellalage stepped up to hit seven fours and two sixes in his 67 not out off 65 balls and take Sri Lanka to 230/8.
In what was also his maiden ODI fifty, Wellalage mixed smartness with solid cricketing shots. He also shared three crucial partnerships of 41, 36 and 46 with Janith Liyanage, Wanindu Hasaranga and Akila Dananjaya respectively to give Sri Lanka a fighting total, which was enough for them to secure a dramatic tie.
"They have a lot of experienced bowlers, so the more we can limit our mistakes, the more we can put pressure on them. I was watching Pathum Nissanka bat quite a lot. 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," Wellalage was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo after the match ended.
With the ball, Wellalage had Shubman Gill caught at short cover after his slog-sweep gave a top-edge to the fielder, while Rohit Sharma missed a sweep off him and was trapped plumb lbw to dismiss the batter for 58 off 47 balls.
"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," added Wellalage, who won Player of the Match award.
The main clinchers for Sri Lanka in getting the tie were leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga and captain Asalanka taking three wickets each. "When we bowled, the game changed with the wickets that Wanindu aiya and Charith aiya took. They took wickets at very difficult times, and that's how we were able to at least keep it to this score."
"If you take Axar Patel and KL Rahul, these are batters who have finished a lot of matches. At that time we needed to get the bowlers in, and when Charith aiya got Axar out and Wanindu aiya got KL Rahul out. It was important to stay calm at that stage, and the match turned our way," concluded Wellalage.