India National Cricket Team’s 22-year-old all-rounder Riyan Parag suffered a moment of fainting in the third and final ODI against Sri Lanka National Cricket Team, leading to him being castled by Jeffrey Vandersay on Wednesday, August 7 at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Riyan Parag finally got his ODI debut in the crucial do-or-die match against Sri Lanka after putting in a lot of effort in domestic cricket and the Indian Premier League. Virat Kohli, the Assam batsman’s idol, handed him the cap.
Riyan Parag came in as a replacement for Arshdeep Singh and displayed a masterclass of bowling in the first innings. With his off-spin delivery, he picked up some crucial wickets and finished with figures of 3/54.
In the second innings, when he came out to bat, India were in trouble but batted with confidence and hit a couple of boundaries. Riyan Parag looked like he would shine with the bat too but was dismissed in the 16th over, courtesy of a moment of fainting.
On the last ball of the 16th over, Jeffrey Vandersay bowled a leg-break delivery to Riyan Parag which went straight. The Indian batsman did not cover his stumps and left the ball. It was an absolutely poor delivery by Parag as the ball kept demolishing the stumps.
Riyan Parag returned to the field after scoring 15 runs in 13 balls, with 2 fours. He batted at a strike rate of 115.38 and after his dismissal, India quickly lost wickets and were bowled out for 138, losing the match by 110 runs and facing a 0-2 series defeat.
Watch: Riyan Parag is defeated by Jeffrey Vandersay
image.twitter.com/jXRCP9H2bI
– hiri_azam (@HiriAzam) August 7, 2024
Jeffrey Vandersay did a great job – Maheesh Theekshana
After the match, Sri Lankan pace bowler Maheesh Theekshana said that the series win over India was a confidence booster for the Sri Lanka Lions. He also added that Indian players are used to playing on flat and smaller pitches but the conditions are different in Colombo. He explained:
“For me, it’s a confidence booster as a team. We lost the T20 series 3-0. The entire team was disappointed and we took it as a motivation. I’m very happy to play the last match and win the series after 1997. It’s a great win for us and I’m very proud to be part of the starting XI.
“They (India) usually play on good wickets and small boundaries in India. We knew that playing Premadasa, if there is a little turn, we can take advantage of it because we have good bowlers. Even in the domestic championship, the wickets will be like that and our batsmen know how to bowl. When we bat first, we thought the wicket would be much better than the first two.”
Maheesh Theekshana further praised the Sri Lankan players, including Jeffrey Vandersay, for their good performance. He said:
“We had to bowl more good balls than in the last few matches. Rohit came in to bat and attacked me, Asitha got off to a good start, came back and got Shubman caught and then Wellalage was brilliant, Vandersay did a great job… Hasaranga in the first game, Akila bowled economically in both games. I wanted to bowl more off-spin balls. It was a team effort. All the players contributed, that’s why we ended up winning.”
