Sri Lanka, who came into the ring with a target of 374 runs, was well controlled by the Indian bowlers in the beginning. With Umran Malik and Siraj showing their strength… Sri Lanka lost 3 wickets for 64 runs. At this stage Nissanka (72) and Dhananjaya de Silva (47) added 72 runs for the fourth wicket. But Sri Lanka lost 8 wickets for 206 runs in 37.5 overs after losing wickets at consecutive breaks.
Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka (108 off 88 balls) added an unbeaten 100 for the 9th wicket at this stage along with Chamika Karunaratne (14 off 21 balls). Even though Lanka lost, he narrowed the gap between the two teams significantly. Shanaka then stepped up with a half-century in 42.1 overs. Until then, the Lankan captain, who had scored a run per ball, hit a lot of boundaries. While watching, he entered the 90s.
Shanaka scored 2 runs off the first ball of the last over of Shami’s innings and reached 97 runs. Next ball no run. As Shanaka takes a single off the third ball, will the Sri Lankan captain do it? It became interesting. Captain Rohit Sharma deployed the fielders closely to prevent a single.
Anticipating that Shanaka would try to take a single on the next ball, Shami ran out (mankading) before the ball was bowled. He appealed to be given out. With this, the umpire approached the third umpire.. Rohit Sharma withdrew the appeal. With a single off the fourth ball, Shanaka hit a boundary off the next ball to score a century. He hits the last ball for a six. Later, Shanaka thanked Rohit Sharma for withdrawing the appeal.
Many netizens are praising the work done by captain Rohit Sharma. Rohit is praised for his sportsmanship. Some are questioning how sportsmanship can be mentioned when Shami does nothing against the rules.
Rohit Sharma said after the match that he did not expect Shami to run out Shanaka who was at the non-striker’s end. “By then Shanaka was playing at 98 runs. He batted brilliantly. Shanaku did not want to get out like that. He played well,” commented Rohit Sharma.
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