India went down against Sri Lanka in the third and final ODI game of the three-match series with the Lankan Lions claiming the series 2-0. The Sri Lankan spinners were spitting fire as they defended 248 runs to win the clash at Colombo.
India never seemed to be in the match once they lost four wickets for just 70 runs. The spinners finally put the Men in Blue out of their misery soon, winning the game by over 100 runs.
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The Indian batting line-up displayed an atrocious performance with skipper Rohit Sharma being the top-scorer of the game for the Indians with 35 runs in 20 deliveries. Wicket-keeper batsman KL Rahul was dropped front of the side for the final game for Rishabh Pant, a decision that came as a surprise for many fans and pundits including former Indian bowler Dodda Ganesh.
Rahul was an integral member of the ODI squad that reached the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup and has been playing fairly well in the long format of white-ball cricket. The decision to play the likes of Shivam Dube and youngster Riyan Parag ahead of the 31-year-old didn’t sit well with Ganesh, taking to X to express his discontent.
Dodda Ganesh slams Indian think tank's 'ridiculous' decision to bench KL Rahul in series-decider
Ganesh was shocked by the decision to drop KL from the series decider, voicing his frustration on the social media platform. Ganesh stated that it could only happen in a crazy universe where Parag and Dube are played ahead of the much-experienced batter.
Only in a crazy universe will u have Dube and Riyan Parag playing ahead of KL Rahul, in a decider ODI. Don’t understand what’s happening. He was leading India just 3 ODIs ago and all of a sudden, one failure & he is out of the playing XI. Ridiculous is an understatement #SLvIND
— Dodda Ganesh | ದೊಡ್ಡ ಗಣೇಶ್ (@doddaganesha) August 7, 2024
Rahul has only featured in two ODI games in 2024, with both being against Sri Lanka. However, he had a terrific year with the bat in 2023. The 31-year-old scored over 1000 runs in ODIs with an average of over 65.
| Matches | Runs | Average | HS | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 1004 | 66.97 | 111 | 87.70 |
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