Three Yorkers, No Mercy: Mathulan's Super Over Masterclass Sends Sri Lanka A Into the Tri-Series Final

Some cricket matches stay with you long after the last ball is bowled, not because of the scorecard, but because of everything that happened around it. The fourth match of the 2026 Sri Lanka A-Team Tri-Series at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium on June 15 was exactly that kind of game. It had a stunning batting comeback, a tense finish in regulation, a controversial Super Over delay that nearly didn't happen, heated altercations between players, and a 19-year-old fast bowler nailing three back-to-back yorkers under almost zero visibility to win it all for Sri Lanka A.

By the time Kugathas Mathulan bowled that final delivery, there were players arguing on the field, umpires intervening, and a teenage Vaibhav Sooryavanshi reportedly shoving a Sri Lanka A player as the hosts celebrated. And through all of it, Sri Lanka A had done enough to win the Super Over 16-9, seal a famous victory over a heavily-fancied India A side, and book their place in the tri-series final.

Catch the full highlights in the video below and read on for the complete breakdown of one of the most dramatic ODI matches involving A-side cricket in recent memory.

India A's Innings: A Collapse and a Rescue Act

Sri Lanka A won the toss and chose to field, and for large parts of India A's innings, that decision looked like it was going to pay off handsomely. The Indian top order simply could not get going on a dry Dambulla surface that offered turn and inconsistent pace throughout the day. At 143 for 7 after 32.1 overs, India A were in serious trouble, with their most dangerous batting names back in the pavilion and the innings seemingly heading toward a total well short of competitive.

What followed was one of those moments that make A-team cricket genuinely compelling to follow. Suryansh Shedge, who had already made an impression in earlier matches with scores of 40 and 26 not out, walked in and refused to let India fold. He found a partner in Vipraj Nigam, and the two of them put together a 104-run stand for the ninth wicket that completely changed the shape of the innings. Shedge finished as India's top scorer with 72 off 66 balls, a controlled and calculated knock that never looked like a fluke. Nigam contributed 51 of his own, and suddenly India A had a total of 265 on the board, a score that felt improbable just a couple of hours earlier.

For Sri Lanka A's bowlers, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth (3 for 26) and Mohamed Shiraz (3 for 33) were the pick of the attack, doing the bulk of the damage in the middle overs to put India in that difficult position. The fact that India still managed 265 despite those two running through the top order was a credit to Shedge and Nigam's partnership.

Sri Lanka A Chase: Samarawickrama Carries the Innings

Chasing 266 on a surface that had gotten slower and harder to score on as the day wore on, Sri Lanka A needed someone to bat deep and hold the innings together from the top. Sadeera Samarawickrama did exactly that. His 93 off 113 balls was the anchor knock Sri Lanka's chase was built around, an innings that mixed patience with well-timed aggression and kept the required run rate manageable through the middle overs.

India A's bowlers fought back through Ayush Badoni (2 for 45) and a tight collective effort, reducing Sri Lanka A to a position where the equation was tight heading into the final few overs. When Samarawickrama finally fell, bowled by Arshad Khan for 93, Sri Lanka A still needed runs. What had seemed like a comfortable chase at various points turned into something far more complicated, and the two sides ended up level at 265 apiece after 50 overs.

The game was tied. What came next, though, was where things really started to get messy.

The Super Over Chaos: Ten Minutes That Felt Like an Hour

A tie in ODI cricket doesn't automatically mean a Super Over under every playing condition, and this is where the evening took a genuinely bizarre turn. There was confusion among the umpires about whether the playing conditions in use for this particular tri-series fixture required a Super Over to decide the result. For more than ten minutes after the end of the 50th over, both teams were in limbo, with nobody quite sure whether the match was simply a draw or whether there was another over to come.

India A captain Tilak Varma was the one who pushed hardest for the Super Over to happen, appealing to the umpires to play it out and refusing to accept a shared result. After a heated discussion that took well over ten minutes to resolve, the umpires confirmed a Super Over would indeed take place. By the time both sides walked back out onto the field, the light had deteriorated badly, to a point where it would not normally have passed a standard light meter reading. The Super Over was played in near-murky conditions, which added yet another layer of controversy to an already chaotic situation.

The Super Over Itself: Mathulan's Yorkers Win It

Sri Lanka A batted first in the Super Over, and with Arshad Khan bowling for India, the hosts managed to set a target of 16. It wasn't a massive total, but on a difficult surface and in very low visibility, it was always going to be more than it looked on paper.

Then came Kugathas Mathulan, a 19-year-old right-arm fast bowler from Sri Lanka who was barely known outside domestic cricket circles before this match. Tasked with defending 16 against two of India A's most dangerous batters in Suryansh Shedge and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Mathulan was ice-cold from ball one. He bowled three yorkers in a row, angled across the stumps, hitting his length with a precision that most senior fast bowlers would have been proud of. Shedge managed a single off one delivery. Sooryavanshi, trying to switch into T20 mode and swing hard, was beaten completely by pace and length on multiple occasions. India A managed just nine from the over, and Sri Lanka A won by seven runs.

There was an ugly postscript. As Sri Lanka A celebrated aggressively, Sooryavanshi, visibly furious about how the match had unfolded, was involved in a confrontation with at least one Sri Lanka A player, with reports suggesting he pushed Vishen Halambage. The umpires had to intervene to separate the players before both sides eventually shook hands and left the field, with considerable bad blood still very much in the air.

India A's Position in the Series Now Critical

This was India A's second consecutive defeat in the tri-series, following an earlier loss to Afghanistan A. With their match against Afghanistan A on Wednesday now a must-win to stay in contention, this India A side faces a significant amount of pressure. On paper, this is a very talented group, with names like Tilak Varma, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Prabhsimran Singh, and Vipraj Nigam suggesting a side more than capable of winning this series. The results, however, haven't reflected that quality, and the cracks are starting to show both on and off the field.

The Super Over incident, particularly Sooryavanshi's reaction at the end, will likely attract some scrutiny from match officials given that Tilak Varma's repeated confrontations with the umpires during the match were already drawing attention. How India A respond to all of this when they take on Afghanistan A will say a lot about what this squad is made of when things aren't going their way.

Sri Lanka A Head to the Final in Great Shape

For Sri Lanka A, this win confirms their place in the tri-series final and marks their second win of the tournament. The hosts have been competitive throughout, and this performance showed real character, particularly Samarawickrama's innings under pressure and Mathulan's remarkable Super Over.

Mathulan, in particular, is a name to watch going forward. Bowling three consecutive yorkers in a high-pressure Super Over, in terrible light, against two international-quality batters who were desperately trying to swing at everything, requires not just skill but an unusual kind of mental composure for a 19-year-old. His evening ended with a verbal confrontation of his own, but the performance itself was genuinely impressive.

For all the controversy and chaos that surrounded the final stages of this game, what shouldn't get lost is how entertaining a match this was. A near-collapse and rescue act in the first innings, an anchor knock that nearly won it in the second innings, a ten-minute stand-off over playing conditions, a Super Over under failing light, player altercations, and a three-yorker Super Over to end it all. This match had everything.

Keep up with our full coverage of the 2026 Sri Lanka A-Team Tri-Series right here on The Yorker Crew, and don't miss the highlights video above for all the key moments from a match that will be talked about for a long time.

What did you make of Mathulan's Super Over? And do you think India A can turn things around against Afghanistan A in the must-win clash on Wednesday? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.