Asitha Fernando has slowly got into the radar of all for his animated celebrations on the cricket field. The Sri Lankan pacer grabbed all the eyeballs on social media with his ‘crotch chop’ celebration after sending Suryakumar Yadav back in the hut during the third T20I in Pallekelele earlier this week.
On Friday, August 2, Fernando turned heads with his antics once again, following the dismissal of a batsman in the first ODI against India at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. He had India captain Rohit Sharma given out lbw to his delivery in the third over of the innings and celebrated with his trademark ‘crotch chop’.
This jubilation, however, was short-lived as Rohit opted to review the decision. Replays showed it was indeed going over the stumps; hence, the decision was overturned. For a while, this left Fernando embarrassed. Despite his energetic celebration, he went wicketless in his first four overs.
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Finally, Fernando picked up his first wicket in his fifth over. He cleaned up Shreyas Iyer on the second ball of the 25th with a fantastic delivery that came back sharply into him. Iyer was surprised by the turn and was clean bowled through the gate – the ball passed between bat and pad and hit the top of the off stump.
— Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (@Hanji_CricDekho) August 2, 2024
After picking up this crucial wicket, Fernando added a new celebration to his portfolio as he put his finger to his lips, indicating silence. Iyer was dismissed for a run-a-ball 23 in his first game for Team India since February.
At the time of filing this report, India were 162/5 in the 35th over, with KL Rahul and Axar Patel at the crease. Chasing a target of 231, India got off to a good start, courtesy Rohit Sharma’s quick fifty. The skipper scored 58 runs off just 47 balls and shared a 75-run stand with Shubman Gill for the opening wicket. However, both openers fell in quick succession, leaving India at 80/2.
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Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer got starts – 24 and 23 respectively – but both fell without converting their starts into big scores. Washington Sundar also fell cheaply for 5 and Sri Lanka had a great fightback as India were now down to 132/5 to make the contest pretty competitive. Earlier, the island nation managed to get 230/8 in their quota of 50 overs with great contributions from Pathum Nissanka and Dunith Wellalage.
