India on Thursday completed a comprehensive series win after they beat Sri Lanka by 4 wickets with 40 balls to spare. The win at Kolkata gives India an unbeatable 2-0 lead into the series as we head into the final game to be played Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. It was the perfect display of batting and bowling by the Indian team despite the Sri Lankan bowlers making early inroads into the Indian batting line up.
The win on Thursday was india's 95th against Sri Lanka and this extended the Indian dominance in bilateral cricket. This ess yet another series win for Rohit Sharma and his men after the men in blue beat Sri Lanka by a -1 margin in the T20 series under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya.
Axar Patel hits 12 runs off one ball -
The incident in question happened in the 37th over of the Indian chase with Chamika karunaratne bolwing to Axar Patel. Thr left handed batter played a perfect drive as the ball sped away for a four. Much to the dismay of the Sri Lankans and the joy of the crowd, the ball was called a no ball.
Karunaratne bowled one short which went over the head of the batter and was called a wide. India retained the free hit meaning India had scored 6 off 1 ball. The next ball the Sri Lankan bowler bowled one short which sat up to be hit. Axar Patel had all the time in the world to deposit the ball deep into the stands for a huge six. This also enabled India to score 12 runs of 1 ball.
KL Rahul leads Indian chase -
Set a target of 216, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill set off in a hurry. The pair added 33 in quick time before karunaratne got the wicket of Rohit Sharma. It was the turn of Lahiru Kumara who then dismissed Shubhman Gill and Virat Kohli to have the Indian fans shocked.
Shreyas Iyer scored 28 when he missed a straight one and was out lbw to Kasun Rajitha for 28. Pandya and Rahul then added 75 before Pandya fell for 36 to give karunaratne his second wicket. Patel scored 21 as he fell to Yhe the bowling of Dhananjaya De Silva . Kuldeep yadav scored 10 as India won in the 44th over. The star for India with the bat was KL Rahul who was not out on 64 off 103 balls with 6 fours.
Twitter reacts -
Axar Patel's 12 runs off one ball had the fans going crazy as they took to Twitter and had their say
— MINI BUS 2022 (@minibus2022) January 12, 2023
Axar Patel the 1st one to score 10runs for 1 ball
— Ibn Batuta (@das04463067) January 12, 2023
Double, No,Wide,6
Axar Patel has been absolutely brilliant with bat for India. pic.twitter.com/KIwD0b3aFm
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) January 12, 2023
#staraikelungal @StarSportsTamil
— Jana (@Jana37852) January 12, 2023
Axar patel also like Jadeja
Once upon a time Jadeja also the batting decently and bowling is excellent but since 2018 he make some explosive runs from his bat and take wickets like twister now he is a best all-rounder
That like Axar can evolve
Axar Patel could be an asset for the team if used properly in the future. #INDvSL
— Sherlock (@Engineeroast) January 12, 2023
The way Axar Patel is performing, hardik in form India has to geniune allrounder in ODI. That's good sign for team considering 50 over WorldCup coming in 8 months.#INDvsSL
— Amit Khairnar (@amitkhairnar_28) January 12, 2023