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 on Tuesday in Pallekal. The Sri Lankan team could not win when they needed nine runs in 12 balls and had six wickets left. 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).
Six runs were needed in the last over for Sri Lanka.
Then Suryakumar came to bowl and managed to take two wickets in the last over. He dismissed Kamindu Mendis (1 off 3) and Mahish Teekshna (0 off 1 ball) giving away just five runs and the match was tied. In the super over, the Sri Lankan team could score only two runs and India got a target of three runs. India achieved success by scoring four runs on the first ball itself. Suryakumar sent the ball outside the fine-leg boundary.
India managed to win the thrilling match and whitewashed Sri Lanka 3-0. After India’s victory, there was a flood of memes on social media, in which new head coach Gautam Gambhir was credited with turning Indian batsmen into spin magicians. One user even compared the trio of Rinku Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, and Riyan Parag to legendary spinners Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, and Shane Warne.
Earlier, with the spin magic of Mahesh Theekshana (three wickets for 28 runs) and Wanindu Hasaranga (two wickets for 29 runs), Sri Lanka restricted India to a score of 137 for nine 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 helped India overcome a slow start by adding 54 runs for the sixth wicket with 26-year-old Riyan Parag. In the final over, Washington Sundar (25) and Ravi Bishnoi (8 not out) added 32 runs for the eight wickets to take the team to a respectable score of 137.
Apart from Teekshana and Hasaranga, Chamindu Wickramasinghe (1 wicket for 17 runs), Asitha Fernando (1 wicket for 11 runs), and Ramesh Mendis (1 wicket for 26 runs), who were 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, thanks to the brilliant bowling of Washington Sundar in the super over, Team India managed to win.