Sri Lankan leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay said he was under “a lot of pressure” after his stunning match-winning spell of 6/33 against India on Sunday. He also added that coming into the team which pushed him to do “something special”. However, Vandersay made it to the playing 11 for the second ODI of the three-match series after Wanindu Hasaranga was sidelined due to injury. The veteran took out six of the top seven Indian batters, with four wickets being LBW or bowled, which also helped Sri Lanka bowl the visitors out for just 208 as well.

“There was a lot of pressure coming into the line-up, I had to do something special,” Jeffrey Vandersay said after the match. “It’s easy to take credit after this spell but the credit goes to the batters. On such a tough wicket to bat on, they put on 240 runs and that helped me bowl the way I did. Hasaranga is the number one spinner, no doubt about it. I got to understand the atmosphere, team balance and everything, I had to stay motivated and keep pushing hard and that’s what is required to play for the nation.”

However, 6/33 are the third-best figures registered by a spinner against India in an ODI and the best for a wrist spinner. This was also the first time Vandersay had bowled in an ODI in over seven months as well. He also said his first wicket Rohit Sharma to break the 97-run opening stand gave him the confidence he needed to find consistency as well. With this, Sri Lanka took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series as well.

“There was assistance off the wicket, I was trying to hit the good areas and did the basics right. This is the first game after sometime for me, once I got the first wicket, that built up some confidence and then kept on hitting the good areas,” he concluded.