'Gritty knock': Twitter reacts as KL Rahul half century helps India to series win over Sri Lanka

India recovered from a precarious 86-4 to beat Sri Lanka by four wickets and take the series in the second one-day international on Thursday.

Lokesh Rahul led India with an unbeaten 64 after facing 103 balls. Kuldeep Yadav hit the winning boundary in the 44th over to give India 219-6 in reply to Sri Lanka’s 215 all out.

“We thought it was a 280-300 wicket. But our bowlers did well to keep them to under 220,” Rahul said. “They put up a good fight and got breakthroughs. It wasn’t a wicket impossible to bat on, and we always try to find a way to win. Batting at No. 5 has helped me understand my game better.”

India has an unassailable 2-0 lead with the last ODI scheduled for Sunday at Thiruvananthapuram.

Earlier, Yadav picked 3-51 to help bowl out Sri Lanka — 102-1 at one point — with 10.2 overs to spare.

Sri Lanka debutant Nuwanidu Fernando opened with a sedate maiden half-century before enduring a careless runout. He scored 50 off 63 balls.

Watch: Hardik Pandya abuses players in dugout for not bringing water

Fernando put on 73 runs for the second wicket with Kusal Mendis (34). But when Mendis was trapped by Yadav in the 17th over, Sri Lanka collapsed.

Yadav also dismissed Charitha Asalanka (15) and bowled Dasun Shanaka (2) as Sri Lanka fell from 102-1 to 126-6 in 7.2 overs.

Sri Lanka managed to cross 200 only thanks to Dunith Wellalage’s 32 off 34 balls.

India made a horrible start to the chase when Sri Lanka’s pacers exploited the dewy conditions.

Rohit Sharma was caught behind for 17. Shubman Gill was out for 21 to Lahiru Kumara, who also bowled Virat Kohli for 4.

India was down to 62-3 and it became 86-4 when Shreyas Iyer (28) was out lbw to Kasun Rajitha.

Rahul then built a partnership with Hardik Pandya (36) worth 75 runs for the fifth wicket.

Despite Pandya’s dismissal, Rahul continued to hold the innings together, reaching his 11th half-century off 93 balls, including six fours.

Axar Patel added 21 off 21 balls to accelerate India’s successful chase.

Let’s take a look at how Twitter reacts to KL Rahul’s and Kuldeep Yadav’s series-winning performances

This match winning inning should give @klrahul lots of confidence.

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) January 12, 2023

#INDvSL #INDvsSL #KLRahul

KL Rahul bhi Babar Azam se badhiya hai pic.twitter.com/Og7cqU5MuB

— g0v!ñD $#@®mA (@rishu_1809) January 12, 2023

KL Rahul at No. 5 in ODIs averages 54 with a SR of 102 with one and six 50+ scores. #INDvsSL

— Jigar Mehta (@jigsactin) January 12, 2023

When the market takes Test, play even an ODI like a Test and win#KLRahul #KLRahul #INDvsSL #Cricket

— Stock Engineers (@StockEngineers_) January 12, 2023

Thank You MSD you inspired KLR #INDvsSL #KLRahul pic.twitter.com/3uc87oAyB4

— Kushagra (@4kushagra5) January 12, 2023

Nind aa gayi BC.

Thanks BKL! #INDvsSL

— Mr.Professor (@iMrProfessor) January 12, 2023

Today was that auspicious day when #KLRahul could play a test knock in an ODI match and save India from defeat #INDvsSL#TeamIndia #BCCI

— Nirmal Jyothi (@majornirmal) January 12, 2023

Thank God for Kuldeep, just think if we had Chahal instead of him coming into bat – Shami, Siraj & Umran with 20+ runs to get#INDvsSL #SLvsIND

— Blunt 3.0 (@0_blunt2) January 12, 2023

KL Rahul at number 5 in ODI:

7(8), 80(52), 88*(64), 4(8), 112(113), 12(15), 76(66), 5(11), 62*(43), 7(18), 73(70), 14(28), 8(10), 39(29), 64*(103). pic.twitter.com/7Y2B0qfcD4

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) January 12, 2023

A hard fought fifty for KL Rahul in his 5️⃣0️⃣th ODI match.

need 2️⃣3️⃣ runs to take the series 2-0.

: BCCI #PlayBold #TeamIndia #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/RHqCM4X725

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) January 12, 2023

GRITTY KNOCK! KL Rahul has played a gem of a knock to steady the innings & orchestrate the run chase.

He registered his 12th ODI fifty in the process!

BCCI • #KLRahul #INDvSL #SLvIND #TeamIndia #BharatArmy pic.twitter.com/4YGIIWMYwJ

— The Bharat Army (@thebharatarmy) January 12, 2023

Ladka itna bura bhi nahi hai… #KLRahul #AthiyaShetty #EdenGardens #jadeja #Slvsind #ViratKohli #siraj #UmranMalik #aksharpatel #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/GtUmDi2fWn

— Pruthvi patel (@Pruthvipatel98) January 12, 2023

With 12 wickets in his last 6 matches – 10-0-38-2
8-0-39-1
9-0-49-1
4-1-18-4
10-1-53-1 and
10-0-51-3 today ,
Kuldeep Yadav should not be dropped in the name of combination. Needs as much game time as possible before the world cup. pic.twitter.com/fatZcx26k5

— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) January 12, 2023

Not sure what Kuldeep Yadav is trying to do here.
Taking wickets?!?
Each one pushes him closer to getting dropped for the next match.

— Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) January 12, 2023

(With inputs from AP)