India vs Sri Lanka: Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar pulled off a miraculous heist as Team India clinched a memorable three-wicket win against Sri Lanka in Colombo. The fast-bowling duo put an 84-run partnership to rescue India from 193/7 to take them past the finish line and claim yet another series win over the Lankans. Chahar and Bhuvi broke a host of records in the process, emulating the likes of former Indian stars Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif.
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India vs Sri Lanka: Records broken by Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar partnership
The 84-run stand between Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the joint second-best 8th wicket partnership for India in ODIs. The record stands at 100, with Bhunveshwar Kumar and MS Dhoni hold the record against Sri Lanka in 2017. Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar had also put on 84 for the 8th wicket in an ODI against Australia at Vadodara.
Deepak Chahar’s 69* was the second-highest score by an Indian batting at No.8 in ODIs. Ravindra Jadeja currently holds the record with his 77 against New Zealand in 2019, in the World Cup semi-final. It was also Chahar’s maiden ODI fifty.
Deepak Chahar also became the first Indian to hit a fifty and take 2 or more wickets against Sri Lanka in an ODI since 2009. The last instance was of Yuvraj Singh scoring 73 and picking up 2/39 in an ODI at Colombo.
India needed 160 runs to win when they lost half their side but still managed to clinch a win. The only other time India had scored more runs after losing five wickets and ended up winning the contest was in the famous 2002 Natwest Series final. Yuvraj Singh scored 69, while Mohammad Kaif scored an unbeaten 87 to seal India’s victory.
India vs Sri Lanka: Men in Blue continue dominant record
The win meant that India clinched the three-match ODI series, their ninth consecutive bilateral ODI series win against Sri Lanka. The last time Sri Lanka won an ODI series against India was in 1997. Since then, India have won 10 out of 12 bilateral series while two series were drawn.
The victory was India’s 10th consecutive ODI win over Sri Lanka, with the hosts last winning a game against the Men in Blue in 2012. It was also India’s 93rd win overall, the most between two top-10 ranked teams in the world.
Sri Lanka have lost 11 consecutive bilateral series across formats against India, with their last series win coming in the 2008 Test series.
