Asia Cup 2023: Dunith Wellalage wreaks havoc against in-form Team India with five-for in Colombo

Team India faced a big reality check at the Asia Cup 2023 on Tuesday, September 12 against Sri Lanka as Dunith Wellalage scalped a five-for at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. The Super Four clash started on a positive note for the record champions of the continent, but it was all Wellalage and Charith Asalanka who dominated after the first powerplay to help Sri Lanka restrict India to a low total.

Monday's hero Virat Kohli had an off day as he was dismissed for three while Rohit Sharma completed 10,000 ODI runs before he departed.

Wellalage wreaks havoc

Having chosen to bat first, the decision looked spot on for the Men in Blue as they scored 65 runs in the first powerplay. The pair of Rohit and Shubman Gill were seen in great nick before the latter was dismissed by Wellalage on his first ball of the match. Gill failed to judge the flight of the delivery and was nowhere near when he was castled on the first ball of the 12th over. The pair put together 80 runs for the opening wicket before the landslide of wickets started for India.

The 20-year-old did not sit back in his exploits as he got the better of skipper Rohit on 53 before striking big with Virat Kohli’s wicket. KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya were then in the firing line as they were dismissed for 39 and 5 respectively. Wellalage’s impact left Team India in a spot of bother as they quickly went from 80/0 to 186/9, losing nine wickets in a span of 106 runs.

Asalanka joins Wellalage’s party

To add insult to injury, Asalanka was also seen in top form as he wrapped the tail before rain stopped play in Colombo. The right-arm off-break bowler got the better of in-form Ishan Kishan on 33 while later dismissing Ravindra Jadeja for four. Interestingly, he was on a hat-trick when he got the better of Jasprit Bumrah (5) and Kuldeep Yadav (0) on back-to-back deliveries.

At the time of writing, rain interrupted proceedings in Colombo as India were batting on 197/9 in 47 overs with Axar Patel (15) and Mohammed Siraj (2) in the middle.

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