New Delhi: It was a day for the Mumbai Indians as India registered a six-wicket victory over the jaded Sri Lankan side in the third one-day international match in Pallekele on Sunday. Pacer Jasprit Bumrah bagged his maiden five-wicket haul to restrict the hosts to 217 for nine and then opener Rohit Sharam notched up his 12th ODI fifty as India sealed the five-match ODI series with a 3-0 lead. Later the duo unveiled their plans, their thoughts that when in India's victory at Kandy.
Opting to bat first, Sri Lankan batsman struggled to gather runs at home. None were able to hold onto their wickets, nor stitch a promising stand as Bumarh bagged his maiden fi-fer with a figure of 5/27 to restrict the hosts to 217 runs.
Staring at a modest target, Team India lost four of their men by the 16th over and were left at dismay with just 61 runs on the board. Rohit Sharma notched up his 12th ODI ton while Mahendra Singh Dhoni struck his 65th ODI half-century as the duo stitched a phenomenal 157-run stand to steer the Indian ship past the 217 mark.
Jasprit Bumrah finished with the Man of the Match award for his incredible 5/27. He, in fact, became the first Indian pacer since Stuart Binny (2014) to bag a five-for. Skipper Virat Kohli, in the post-match presentation, praised the pacer saying, "Bumrah has got 11 wickets in three games...in the death overs he is like the fish in the water."
After the match, Rohit Sharma interviewed his Mumbai Indian teammate, Bumrah. When asked about his feeling about coming back to cricketing action after a long break since Champions Trophy and about playing on Sri Lankan soil for the first time, the pacer replied, " "It is always good to have a break because, in Indian cricket, you don't usually get a break because you are continuously playing cricket throughout the year. So it was good to take a break, spend some time with the family and you can get the strength level back up. So whenever you come back, you feel refreshed and your hunger is back. So you want to perform well. So it is good to be back."
Talking about the difference in condition compared to Dambulla, Bumrah said,"In the last match, the wicket was a bit slow, so the ball was gripping at that time. Over here, when we started to bowl there was a bit of seam movement with the new ball. So we were trying to extract that and use it to our advantage, bowl good line and length and try to mix it with the odd variation. So we were just trying to do that and trying to hit good areas. So that would give us good results."
Amid all the serious talks, Rohit bowled a cheeky bouncer asking, "On a lighter note, who is your favourite actress?"
Ducking the question with much ease, the 23-year-old replied with a smile, "I don't see this question relevant to the match."
Watch the entire conversation here...
MUST WATCH - Presenting the @ImRo45 - @Jaspritbumrah93 chat from Kandy by @RajalArora https://t.co/Vuv61zHZde #TeamIndia #SLvIND pic.twitter.com/u8SNzkmFQa
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 28, 2017
Team India will next play the fourth ODI game against Sri Lanka at Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on August 31.
