On Sunday, West Indies defeated Sri Lanka by five wickets in the third and final ODI of the three-match series and completed a clean sweep over the visitors. The hosts had already won the first two fixtures of the ODI leg.
After put to bat first, Sri Lanka scored 274/ 6 in the allotted 50 overs. All-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga and youngster Ashen Bandara shined with the bat and took their team to a competitive total. While Hasaranga smashed 80 from 60 deliveries, Bandara scored 55 off 74 balls. For the home side, Akeal Hosein was the pick of the bowler as he claimed three wickets for 33 in his quota of 10 overs.
In reply, the Windies chased down the target in 48.3 overs, thanks to impressive knocks by Shai Hope, Darren Bravo and skipper Kieron Pollard. Hope and Pollard smashed the fifties, while Bravo scored a magnificent century.
The exciting game was also halted for a few minutes due to a swarm of bees. The bizarre episode took place in the 38th over of Lankan innings when Anderson Phillip came to bowl. After the first ball, the bees attacked the park and forced the players as well as the umpires to lay down on the ground with their face down in order to avoid any stings.
Here is the video:
Bee 🐝 attack in #WIvSri#INDvENGt20 #Cricket pic.twitter.com/KgA5as5myR
— Days Since Babar Scored Last International 100 (@MittiDaPutla) March 14, 2021
Hope, who scored 258 runs in the three-match series with one century and two half-tons, was named ‘Player of the series’ for his fantastic show. He smashed runs at a phenomenal average of 86.00.
After the match, Hope said that he was pleased with his effort. He said his job is to score runs and make the most of it whenever he gets the opportunity.
“It means a lot; I contributed to the win, so just pleased with that. My job is to score runs, and whenever I get the opportunities, I need to make the most of it. As a batter, you want to score runs, if I could do every single innings, I would take it, but it doesn’t happen like that in this game. Very pleased for the guys; they have worked hard on and off the field. It’s been a long time that we got rewarded for it,” said Hope at the post-match presentation.
