Who Is Jeffrey Vandersay, The Sri Lankan Leggie Who Dismantled Indian Batting Lineup In Second ODI
(MENAFN- AsiaNet News) Sri Lankan leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay dismantled the star-studded Indian batting order with a six for 33 in the second ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday, and thereby helping his side take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shivam Dube, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul, all fell to the leg spin of the 34-year-old, who was playing only his 23rd ODI since making his debut in 2015.
Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first on a pitch where the spinners got the ball to turn viciously at times. After being six down for 150, Dunith Wellalage(39) and Kamindu Mendis (40) made telling contributions down the order to take the score to 240 of 9 in 50 overs. In response, Indian opener's made the perfect start, with the skipper racing to 64 of 44 balls and the latter making a steady 35 of 44 deliveries.
In the 13th over, Vandersay gave the hosts the much-needed breakthrough by getting the wicket of Rohit, who was looking dangerous. The 37-year-old's switch hit ended in the hands of the diving Pathum Nissanka at backward point. From then on, Vandersay controlled the proceedings, with Gill top-edging a cover drive to the slip, while Kohli and Iyer were both lbw to identical deliveries that angled in. Rahul got bowled and southpaw Dube was lbw. The 34-year-old has lot of variations in his arsenal with deliveries like slider, googly and top-spinner the most used weapons.
Vandersay made his international debut way back in 2015 in a T20I home series against Pakistan. The leggie went on to play 14 T20I for the Lions but managed to take just seven wickets with an economy of 8.00. Meanwhile the Wattala-born cricketer made his ODI debut in the same year against New Zealand in Chirstchurch. Vandersay's lone test appearance came against Australia in 2022.
The veteran is a clever bowler who relies on spinning the ball as much as possible. He could be lethal, especially on sub-continent conditions, which assists slow bowlers.
Vandersay, on Sunday,
became only the fifth Lankan bowler, after the legendary Muthiah Muralidaran, Ajantha Mendia, Angelo Mathews and Akila Dananjaya, to pick-up a six-for or better in an ODI against India.
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