Explosive Evin Lewis leads West Indies to consolation victory against Sri Lanka. (Source – Getty Images)
The third ODI between Sri Lanka and the West Indies was far from a dead rubber. The concluding game of the white-ball tour to the island nation saw the Caribbeans register their first win, which came in the inaugural T20I of the tour.
The first ten overs of Sri Lanka’s innings were quite uncharacteristic as far as fielding from the West Indies was concerned. Three catches were dropped – two of Pathum Nissanka and one of Avishka Fernando. Both of them had added 47 by that. However, Avishka departed after offering a straightforward return catch to Roston Chase on the first delivery of the 18th over. That was the point where the match swayed in terms of a massive five-hour hiatus due to rain pouring down at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.
The delay meant the fixture to be cut short to a 23-overs-a-side affair. It was at this stage when the hosts, and in particular, Kusal Mendis, decided to rev things up. Four consecutive boundaries after play was resumed set the tone for the rest of the innings. Interestingly, Mendis was dropped twice en route to his unbeaten 22-ball 56 knock, which consisted of just the lone six in addition to nine fours. The Lankans reached to 156 for the loss of three wickets in what seemed as a competitive total on the board at the end of the innings
The modified total set for the West Indies to salvage anything was an exorbitant 195, only by the face of it, though. Brandon King was the first to depart in the sixth over of the run-chase. It was only after King’s dismissal when the West Indies found some impetus injected into their innings via the two overs bowled by Wanindu Hasaranga. Spinner Hasaranga was quite evidently finding it tough to grip the wet ball. Evin Lewis, who was playing his first ODI since July 2021, cramped up minutes after getting notching up his 11th half-century in the format.
It was skipper Charith Asalanka’s second over which yielded 14 runs that brought the Windies to believe in themselves yet again. Maheesh Theekshana was rinsed for 18 in the next over, which emerged as the tempo-setter for Sherfane Rutherford. A 10 and 13-run 20th and 21st over, respectively, saw all but 15 to be attained with a couple of overs remaining. Fascinatingly, it was the very over which saw Rutherford bringing up his third successive half-century, this one in a mere 26 deliveries. The same over also witnessed a century to Lewis, a milestone that turned the match greatly in the visiting team’s favour.
The eight-wicket victory was the West Indies’ first in the island nation following defeats in their previous 10 encounters. It was Sri Lanka who emerged as the winners of the ODI series by a similar 2-1 margin as compared to the 20-over leg. Asalanka was awarded the Player of the Series accolade for accruing 145 runs in three innings, coupled with a solitary wicket under his belt.