Social media was filled with memes after Suryakumar Yadav and Rinku Singh became heroes with the ball in India’s victory in the third T20 match against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on Tuesday. The Sri Lankan team could not win when they needed nine runs from 12 balls and had six wickets in hand. Rinku Singh came to bowl in the 19th over and took two wickets for three runs. Rinku dismissed the well-set Kusal Perera (46 off 34 balls) and Ramesh Mendis (three runs off six balls).
Sri Lanka needed six runs in the last over. Suryakumar then came to bowl and managed to take two wickets in the last over. He dismissed Kamindu Mendis (1 off 3) and Maheesh Theekshna (0 off 1 ball) to give away just five runs and the match was tied. In the super over, the Sri Lankan team could score just two runs and India got a target of three runs. India achieved success by scoring four runs off the first ball itself. Suryakumar sends the ball beyond the fine leg boundary.
India managed to win the thrilling match and whitewashed Sri Lanka 3-0. After India’s win, social media was flooded with memes, crediting new head coach Gautam Gambhir for turning the Indian batsmen into spin wizards. One user even compared the trio of Rinku Singh, Suryakumar Yadav and Riyan Parag to legendary spinners Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne.
Earlier, with the spin magic of Mahish Theekshana (three wickets for 28 runs) and Wanindu Hasaranga (two wickets for 29 runs), Sri Lanka restricted India to 137 runs for nine wickets in the third and final T20 International cricket match here on Tuesday. For India, opener and vice-captain Shubman Gill scored the highest 39 runs. He recovered India from a bad start by adding 54 runs for the sixth wicket with Riyan Parag (26). In the last over, Washington Sundar (25) and Ravi Bishnoi (08 not out) added 32 runs for eight wickets to take the team to a respectable score of 137. Apart from Theekshana and Hasaranga, Chamindu Wickramasinghe (one wicket for 17 runs), Asitha Fernando (one wicket for 11 runs) and Ramesh Mendis (one wicket for 26 runs), who are making their international cricket debut for Sri Lanka, also took one wicket each. In reply, Sri Lanka had scored 110 runs for one wicket, so it did not seem that the Indian team would be able to win this match. However, after Rinku-Suryakumar, the Indian team managed to win due to the brilliant bowling of Washington Sundar in the super over.
