Luck was a fortune for Jeffrey Vandersay as the leg-spinner returned from the wilderness to collect six wickets to help Sri Lanka defeat India in the second ODI in Colombo and put the island nation with touching distance of a first bilateral series triumph over their Asian rival since 1997.
It was Vandersay’s first international appearance since the start of the year and just his 16th match for his country since the completion of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in England in 2019, and it only came about due to an injury to first-choice spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.
Spinners shine as Sri Lanka notch up an impressive win to take a 1-0 lead in the ODI series đź‘Š#SLvIND đź“ť: https://t.co/mhKCCIDBvl pic.twitter.com/T6RBwSdf3M
— ICC (@ICC) August 4, 2024
Hasaranga was ruled out of the series with a hamstring complaint and Vandersay received a call-up as his replacement and the 34-year-old took the opportunity with both hands as he swung the momentum of the game and the series firmly to his side by dismissing India’s top six batters in quick succession.
Vandersay came on to bowl in the 12th over with India well placed at 80/0 in their pursuit of Sri Lanka’s decent total of 240/9 and, by the time he had finished his spell in the 24th over, the visitors were reduced to 147/6 and it was the hosts that were in control.
A career best performance from Jeffrey Vandersay helped Sri Lanka to a terrific win in Colombo đź‘Ź#SLvIND đź“ť: https://t.co/OXnxEg8EgS pic.twitter.com/aWiRjpTZGX
— ICC (@ICC) August 4, 2024
The right-armer deceived India captain Rohit Sharma (64) to get the ball rolling and then claimed the big wickets of Shubman Gill (35), Shivam Dube (0), Virat Kohli (14), Shreyas Iyer (0) and KL Rahul (0) to help guide Sri Lanka to an emphatic 32-run victory and put them up 1-0 and on the brink of a rare series triumph over India.
You have to go way back to 1997 to find the last time Sri Lanka defeated India in a bilateral men’s ODI series and Vandersay can help his side match what the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and Muthiah Muralidaran achieved 27 years ago by avoiding defeat in the series finale in Colombo on Wednesday.