Sri Lanka had refused to throw in the towel at the start of Day 5. The deficit of 288 runs looked insurmountable, especially after they lost three wickets on the fourth evening, but the hosts were not going down without a fight. Captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Sonal Dinusha, the overnight batters, weathered the early storm to stitch a 95-run stand before Ravindra Jadeja and Prasidh Krishna struck twice in quick succession before lunch. The rest of the line-up collapsed in less than an hour after the break as India completed a 165-run victory.
The story behind Niroshan Dickwella‘s wicket, which fell before lunch, however, added another layer to India’s emphatic win. Clips of the exchange between Yashasvi Jaiswal and the Sri Lankan batter went viral on social media and even became a talking point during the post-match discussion on Sony Sports.
The incident took place in the 60th over of Sri Lanka’s final innings, when Jaiswal, stationed at square leg, engaged Dickwella in a bit of banter. The Indian batter urged him to go big and then pointed towards deep square leg, challenging him to hit a six there.
Dickwella, who perhaps should have kept his focus on the game, played along. He agreed to the challenge but demanded an IPL ticket in return.
Jaiswal immediately accepted the deal, promising to get him an IPL contract if he hit the six.
Here is how the conversation unfolded:
Jaiswal: Come on yaar, there was a lot of shots in first innings. We need to see something, come on.
Dickwella: Yes?
Jaiswal: Yes, I want to see. Come on, show me. Hit him there (pointing towards deep square leg), come on. Why not?
Dickwella: No requirement. Take me (to) IPL, then I’ll hit.
Jaiswal: We will, we will. 100%. Come on, hit him a six , I’ll take you to the IPL.
Dickwella: Thank you.
Dickwella never got the chance to collect on that promise.
On the final ball of the over, Prasidh followed him as he shuffled across and moved towards the leg side. The bowler went wider outside off, prompting Dickwella to throw his bat at the delivery away from his body. He only managed an outside edge, which flew straight through to Rishabh Pant.
Sri Lanka went six down by lunch, before Manav Suthar picked up the remaining four wickets in a space of 10 balls to fold Sri Lanka for 206 runs.
India go 1-0 up in the series. The second game will be played in Colombo starting August 23.
