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Spinners became India's worst nightmare in their first bilateral series defeat against Sri Lanka since 1997.
Sri Lanka had the opportunity to bowl second in the three ODIs, and their spinners made the most of the turning conditions that were on offer in Colombo. India lost 27 wickets to spin in the ODI series, which is the most by any team in a bilateral ODI series with a maximum of three matches. The story was the same for Indian batters throughout the ODI series, as they fell short against Sri Lanka spinners while chasing a target between 240-250 runs. Spinners remained the root cause of trouble for the Indian batters. In the first game that ended in a draw, Sri Lanka spinners combined picked up nine wickets. In the second game, Jeffrey Vandersay welcomed the Indian batters to witness his art in spin craft. He laid out a spin trap that Indian batters couldn't escape from. His six-wicket haul left India bamboozled, and skipper Charith Asalanka's three-fer completely knocked the visitors out of the game. Before the third ODI against their neighbours, no Indian middle order had managed to put up an aggregate of 40. India solely relied on skipper Rohit Sharma's blitzkrieg as opener and Axar Patel's handy contributions towards the end. In the third ODI, Sri Lanka spinners once again scripted a painful outing for India with the bat. Once again, a different spinner made Indian batters look out of their depth. Dunith Wellalage, a primary concern for India in Sri Lanka's tail end, picked up a five-wicket haul in his 5.1 over spell. India's mainstays, skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel, perished in front of Wellage's slow left-arm orthodox style of spin. Jeffery welcomed India to 'Vander-land' with his two wickets, and Maheesh Theekshana applied the finishing touches to seal another impressive display with the ball for Sri Lanka spinners. Their remarkable effort sealed a thumping 110-run win for Sri Lanka and overall a 2-0 ODI series win over the number one ODI team. (ANI)
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