One of the most cherished moments in a person’s life is the day they get married. They are set to embark on a new journey with a partner for the rest of their lives and continue the legacy of their family once they raise children.
Playing for the country too, is another big moment in a sportsman’s life and to give it your all for the colours you represent is a feeling that cannot be replicated. Ask Akila Dananjaya, who got married yesterday and bowled one of the best spells in recent ODI history.
From the hall to the stadium:
Akila Dananjaya would have been forgiven for thinking this would have been another ordinary day against the Indians. In fact, at no point during this entire series have they been able to put up a fight that suggests they pose a challenge for Virat Kohli’s men. That was until today at Kandy when the newly wed man showed up.
Akila Dananjaya ripped through the Indian batting line-up and registered a magical 6 wicket haul for his team. Unfortunately, it was not enough as the old warhorse, MS Dhoni, along with the number 9 bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar scripted a famous win from the jaws of defeat.
Beautiful bowling:
However, the victory must take nothing away from a fantastic bit of spin bowling from the Lankan bowler. He spun a web of doubt around the Indian batsmen. Starting with Rohit Sharma who threw away a fantastic start by trying to sweep a fuller delivery only to be adjudged LBW.
This was followed by a googly that did the promoted Kedar Jadhav no favours. It skidded from the surface and took the inside edge before crashing into the stumps.
That was when the best batsman in ODI cricket at the moment stepped up and played a boundary off the first ball to state that normalcy had returned. What he didn’t expect was being bowled by a beauty of a fullish ball the very next instant. The ball completely bamboozled Kohli who was puzzled by what had just happened.
Then, KL Rahul was the next victim as another googly took away the inside edge and hit the bails. This was followed by the wicket of Hardik Pandya, who hit the ball straight into the keeper’s hands. Then, the story of the day continued as Axar Patel fell…once again, yes, to Dananjaya.
Almost a legendary spell:
The spell was so legendary that it was able to revive the entire team and the crowd into believing they were witnessing something incredible. Akila Dananjaya was not given support by his teammates and this, coupled with Dhoni’s and Bhuvneshwar’s astute and careful batting meant that SL had to go back once again empty-handed.
Not what they deserved, but what they eventually got. Nevertheless, this was the spark that the series needed to spice things up and the next game will hopefully be just as fun to watch as a cricket fan.
