Asia Cup review: How India halted Sri Lanka's 13-match winning streak in low-scoring thriller

In a team of pedigreed performers, Dunith Wellalage is a greenhorn. The left-hander led Sri Lanka at the Under-19 World Cup in January last year, where he impressed with his reading of the game, his parsimonious left-arm spin and his measured batting. Fast-tracked to the senior side, he has looked completely at home in the cauldron of the international game, slotting effortlessly into the limited-overs set-up as a more than handy all-rounder.

Wellalage's best

On Tuesday, Wellalage single-handedly threatened to pull the rug from under India’s feet. With the ball, he was outstanding; brought on in the 12th over with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill running riot – India had amassed 80 in their first 66 deliveries – he began his evening with a wicket of his first delivery, a beauty that drifted in towards Gill’s pad, then broke sharply on pitching and hit off-stump. Gill has been in sensational touch of late and someone had to produce something special to evict him. That someone answered to the name of Wellalage.

In his next two overs, the little man accounted for Virat Kohli and Rohit; there were more wickets in store to take him to career-best figures of five for 40. India, on the rampage through Rohit and Gill, found a track assisting the spinners, and Wellalage, too hot to handle; for good measure, the Moratuwa lad was joined in the wrecking stakes by Charith Asalanka, himself a former Under-19 captain but whose four for 18 belied his part-time off-spinner status.

It might be tempting to dismiss India’s 213 as a poor batting effort, and while they could have shown more enterprise, they were really on a sticky wicket, pun intended. The turn was sharp and appreciable, the bounce varied from the near-shooter – which claimed Rohit – to shoulder-high from the tweakers. At one point, survival became more essential than run-making, and for as long as they batted, Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul managed that with some panache.

Kishan is a natural stroke-maker but in deference to the conditions, he put his attacking instincts away and concentrated on innings-building. Rahul, his confidence bolstered after the previous day’s century against Pakistan, was fluent from the off, working the gaps, sizing up which strokes to attempt and which to eschew. It’s possible that sometime next month, they both will be fighting for the same spot – the wicketkeeper-batsman’s, at No. 5 – but together, they showed admirable restraint and game-awareness during their 63-run alliance. It wasn’t frenetic, but its value became apparent when, in the immediacy of Kishan’s dismissal, India lost seven for 59.

India's all 10 wickets fall to spin

Wellalage might hoped for a few quiet moments to savour his accomplishment, but within minutes of the start of the Sri Lankan chase, it was obvious that he would have a role to play with the bat too. There was some suggestion that Rohit might be tempted to start with spin, given that India had lost all ten wickets to spin for the first time in ODI history. But the captain stuck with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, and was handsomely rewarded when, inside eight overs, Sri Lanka were stuttering at 25 for three.

One of the more heartening takeaways from the last three days has been Bumrah’s bowling. Playing an ODI for the first time since July last year, he had served notice of being in peak rhythm against Pakistan; this night, he was more charged up than normal, the ready smile nowhere in evidence as he unleashed his full fury. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis were fired out, Dimuth Karunaratne rode his luck until Siraj had his number. Even on a turner, India’s accomplished quicks had many tricks up their sleeve.

After the pacers had done their bit, Rohit turned to Kuldeep Yadav and the left-arm wrist-spinner didn’t disappoint. After the game, Rahul spoke of how, under lights, even he has trouble picking his teammate from behind the stumps; like Pakistan’s batsmen, Sri Lanka’s too were befuddled and bemused as Kuldeep unloaded his enormous variety. The ball spat this way and turned that, often snaking past the inside and outside edges, sometimes resulting in wickets and more frequently eliciting gasps of disappointment from the close-in cordon.

To have a wicket-taker in the middle overs is an enormous luxury, and India reaped the benefits to reduce Sri Lanka to 99 for six. With the last recognised pair of Dhananjaya de Silva and Wellalage in the middle, it seemed a case of when rather than whether, but egged on by an expectant home crowd, the experienced hand and the young tyro had other ideas. Dhananjaya is a past master at playing spin, Wellalage revealed his proficiency against that craft too. Suddenly, India began to feel the pressure a little, the partnership growing in proportion and reaching 63, leaving Sri Lanka with plenty of time to score the remaining 52 runs.

Sri Lanka's 13-match win streak ends

Dhananjaya undid all the good work with a terrible shot against Ravindra Jadeja; the cry of anguish might have been heard as far away as in Chennai. It gave India an opening and like the crack unit that they are, they stepped in and delivered the knockout punches with Kuldeep bringing the evening to a swift end, Sri Lanka falling short by 41 runs. Braveheart Wellalage was left stranded on a fabulous 42.

This wasn’t a dominant, all-conquering performance like against Pakistan, but beyond formalising their entry into the final, it would have pleased the Indians for the character and resolve they showcased in various situations. The gains of the 228-run drubbing of Pakistan were handsomely built on; despite their lowly No. 8 position in the ICC ODI rankings, Sri Lanka were sitting on a 13-match winning streak and by dismissing India, they had extended their record of bowling teams out for a whopping 14th straight time. At home, they are always formidable; to beard the Lankan lion in its own den, that counts for a heck of a lot.