India vs Sri Lanka, Asia Cup 2022: Madushanka leads late fightback as Lankans restrict Men in Blue to 173/8

Sri Lanka mounted an admirable fightback in the slog overs of the Indian innings, restricting the Men in Blue to 173/8 when a much bigger score looked likely at one point.

And it was left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka who spearheaded Sri Lanka’s fightback late in the innings, his haul of 3/24 triggering a late collapse after Rohit Sharma (72) and Suryakumar Yadav’s (34) 97-run third-wicket stand put the Men in Blue in the driver’s seat.

Besides Madushanka, Chamika Karunaratne also proved handy for the Lankans with his haul of 2/27 from four overs which included Rohit’s wicket in the 13th over.

Madushanka had struck early in the innings, making a mess of the stumps to send Virat Kohli back to the hut for a four-ball duck. Though he got struck for a six by Suryakumar in his third over after being brought back in the 11th over, it was his dismissals of Deepak Hooda and Rishabh Pant in a space of three balls in the penultimate over of the innings that pegged the defending champions back.

While Hooda got his stumps knocked over after exposing all three of them and missing an attempted lap shot, Pant was done in by a slower ball, hitting the ball straight to Pathum Nissanka at deep midwicket.

India has had troubles with left-arm seamers over the years — whether Mohammed Amir in the 2016 Asia Cup and the 2017 Champions Trophy final, Trent Boult in the 2019 World Cup semi-final or Shaheen Shah Afridi in the group stage clash in last year’s T20 World Cup. And with his performance on Tuesday, Madushanka may have emerged their latest threat.

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