Revealed: What Will Be Sri Lanka's Target If India Doesn't Bat Again In the 3rd ODI

The ongoing third and final One-day International between Sri Lanka and India has been halted due to persistent rain in Colombo.

The downpour came during the 22nd over of the Indian innings and given the intensity of the rain and the predicted forecast, it is fair to assume that we are set for a long delay.

While there is still a lot of time for the Indian innings to resume, in case, the visitors don’t bat again, the Duckworth-Lewis rule will come into play.

In that case, Sri Lanka’s target will be 189 in 23 overs, according to renowned statistician Mohandas Menon.

If India (147/3 in 23 overs) does not bat again, then Sri Lanka's target will be 189 in 23 overs!#INDvSL #SLvIND

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 23, 2021

If that’s the case, then the Suryakumar Yadav LBW call might prove to be a big moment in the larger scheme of things.

Yadav was adjudged LBW on the first ball of the 23rd over when he missed the attempted slog-sweep off Jayawickrama.

SKY immediately challenged the decision and after an extended break, we finally saw the ball tracking on-screen which confirmed that the ball had pitched outside the impact line.

Suryakumar Yadav's expression tells it all ?

How close was that call?#SLvIND pic.twitter.com/OXhKlYaVs2

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) July 23, 2021

However, in a classic case of comedy of errors, it seemed that neither the Sri Lankans nor Surya had knowledge about the DRS rule as the former started celebrating and the latter started going off the field.

Sanity soon got restored though as the on-field umpire signaled a change in his original decision. The duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Manish Pandey played out the rest of the over before rain forced players to leave the field.

Earlier, Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and decided to bat first.

Dhawan got India off to a rollicking start as he smashed Dhananjaya de Silva for three boundaries in the 2nd over. He was, however, dismissed in the very next over by Dushmanta Chameera courtesy of a flashy loose drive.

Prithvi Shaw continued in his typical way and he got ideal company from debutant Sanju Samson, who enthralled everyone with his exquisite stroke play.

The duo stitched 74 runs for the 2nd wicket before Prithvi Shaw got trapped plumb in front while trying to flick the ball on the leg-side. He fell 1 run short of his maiden ODI fifty.

Sanju Samson (46) followed suit courtesy yet another soft dismissal as he uppishly chipped Jayawickrama over the cover region, only to see Avishka Fernando take a brilliant catch.

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