India 81 for 3 (Jaiswal 30, Suryakumar 26, Theekshana 1-16) beat Sri Lanka 161 for 9 (Kusal Perera 53, Nissanka 32, Bishnoi 3-26) by seven wickets by way of DLS methodology
Throughout the primary two T20Is, Sri Lanka have misplaced 16 for 68 within the final six overs. There was a lot buy for spinners that part-time spinner Parag bowled his full allotment of overs and Axar bowled the final over of the primary innings by which Sri Lanka may handle solely 161 for 9.
Sri Lanka’s finest guess to defend that sub-par complete would have been to unleash their three spinners on India – they’d shored up their spin assault by bringing in Ramesh Mendis for quick bowler Dilshan Madushanka – however rain disrupted them. Although Maheesh Theekshana knocked Sanju Samson over for a duck in India’s DLS-adjusted chase of 78 in eight overs, Wanindu Hasaranga conceded 16 in his first over. Suryakumar Yadav then lined up Theekshana for 3 successive fours to hurry India in direction of victory.
Matheesha Pathirana dismissed Suryakumar for 26 off 12 balls, and Yashasvi Jaiswal holed out for 30 off 15 balls within the subsequent over, however Hardik Pandya produced a cameo of his personal, making certain that India’s new period kicked off with a sequence win.
Nissanka, Perera lay sturdy base
After being requested to bat first, Sri Lanka dashed out of the blocks, scoring 54 for 1 within the powerplay. With the ball not swinging for Mohammed Siraj or Arshdeep Singh, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis had the license to pump the ball up the highest.
Mendis had hoisted an on-pace seam-up supply from Arshdeep for a 4 over mid-on, however when the left-arm seamer took tempo off and bowled a cutter into the pitch, he may solely miscue it to the infielder. Nissanka and Kusal Perera, although, saved batting with excessive intent and saved pinging the boundaries within the powerplay.
Every time India’s bowlers strayed into his hips, Perera unleashed Sanath Jayasuriya-esque short-arm jabs and when he raced to a 31-ball half-century, he had Jayasuriya himself applauding warmly from the dugout. Perera had reached the landmark with some assist from Rinku Singh, who slipped on the fringe of the square-leg boundary and ended up parrying the ball away for six.
Rinku had additionally reprieved Kusal on 32 within the tenth over after wristspinner Bishnoi had drawn a top-edged sweep with a legbreak. By the point, Bishnoi had already pinned Nissanka lbw for 32 off 24 balls with a fizzing unsuitable’un.
India’s spinners wreck the bottom
India caught to 4 specialist bowlers, together with Axar, and backed Hardik and Parag to share the fifth-bowler duties. After impressing with 3 for five on Saturday, Parag extracted ripping flip and bounce. At one level, the broadcaster put up a graphic exhibiting the common flip achieved by India’s spinners. Parag had generated 3.7 levels of activate a mean compared to Axar’s 3 levels and Bishnoi’s 1 diploma.
Although Parag went wicketless, he as soon as once more confirmed that he may do a job with the ball. He even allowed Suryakumar to carry Hardik again till the 14th over.
Bishnoi then returned on the loss of life to bowl each Dasun Shanaka and Hasaranga for geese. Hardik did his bit by having Perera holing out for 53 off 34 balls, with Rinku holding onto a pointy catch and redeeming himself.
Suryakumar shook issues up on the loss of life, very like he had executed on Saturday when he handed the ball to Parag throughout this section. Bowling the twentieth over for less than the third time in his T20I profession and sixth in his T20 profession, Axar gave up simply eight runs whereas taking the wickets of Theekshana and Ramesh on Sunday.
From 130 for two, Sri Lanka subsided to 161 for 9. Recreation over for them.
Rain, SKY mess with SL’s spinners
After rain had delayed the beginning of the match by 45 minutes, it returned three balls into India’s chase and left them chasing a revised goal of 78 in eight overs.
Sri Lanka had a sliver of hope when Theekshana took out Samson with a skidder after which beat Suryakumar’s outdoors edge with a carrom ball. Hasaranga, nonetheless, struggled to grip the moist ball and Jaiswal aced the match-up towards the legspinner.
With the ball sliding onto the bat after the bathe, Suryakumar performed quite a lot of sweeps earlier than he fell to Pathirana. Hardik completed the chase with 9 balls to spare and left Hasaranga nursing figures of 2-0-34-1.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
