India's Suryakumar Yadav struck 50 in 34 balls, his second T20I fifty[/caption]
India beat Sri Lanka by 38 runs after making a modest 164 batting first yesterday (25) in the first T20I under lights at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo.
Sri Lanka’s batting looked not up to the mark and the selectors, who are looking for the right combination for the forthcoming World Cup of the format, have a plenty of task in hand.
The selection of Ashen Bandara, who made only nine off 19 balls, looked puzzling when the Lankan squad had the options like Ramesh Mendis and Sadeera Samarawickrama at their disposal.
Middle-over woes continue
The target of 165 was a modest one nowadays against any bowling attack and the Lankans were in the hunt only up to the halfway mark of their run chase. Then they lost their way from thereon.
Their middle-over woes in the T20s continued: 6th over-2 runs, 7th-4, 8th-2, 9th-3, and 10th-9 runs. They scored a meagre 19 runs off the five overs from over no. 5 to 10, which is not enough at all in this level of the game.
Lost their way
[caption id="attachment_151770" align="alignleft" width="279"]
Charith Asalanka batted well for his 44, which included three sixes[/caption]
Sri Lanka lost their way as wickets tumbled too regularly after Avishka Fernando and Charith Asalanka were back in the pavilion after promising knocks of 26 and 44 respectively, in 23 and 26 balls.
Asalanka departed when the home team were still within reach of the target. Yet quick departure of Chamika Karunaratne and Wanindu Hasaranga slipped the game away from them.
Indo innings
Earlier Sri Lankan bowlers, particularly Dushmantha Chameera and Wanindu Hasaranga, did well to restrict the Indian batting line-up to a modest 164.
Chamera took the wicket of Prthvi Shaw on the very first ball of the innings and Skipper Shikhar Dhawan saw them pass 100 runs sharing two solid partnerships, first with Sanju Samson and then with Suryakumar Yadav.
Hasaranga scalped Samson in his very first ball deceiving him in front of the wicket. Samson scored 27 off 20 and India were 51/2 in the sixth over after his dismissal leaving Yadav and Ishan Kishan to raise the total past 160.
SCORECARD
India
Prithvi Shaw c Bhanuka b Chameera 0
Shikhar Dhawan (Capt.) c Bandara b Karunaratne 46
Sanju Samson (wk) lbw b Hasaranga 27
Suryakumar Yadav c sub (R. Mendis) b Hasaranga 50
Hardik Pandya c Bhanuka b Chameera 10
Ishan Kishan not out 20
Krunal Pandya not out 3
Extras (lb 2, w 6) 8
Total (for 5 wkts. in 20 overs) 164
Did not bat: Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Shaw, 0.1 ov), 2-51 (Samson, 6.1 ov), 3-113 (Dhawan, 14.1 ov), 4-127 (Yadav, 15.2 ov), 5-153 (H. Pandya, 18.4 ov)
Bowling: Dushmantha Chameera 4-0-24-2 (1w), Chamika Karunaratne 4-0-34-1 (3w), Akila Dananjaya 3-0-40-0 (1w), Isuru Udana 4-0-32-0, Wanindu Hasaranga 4-0-28-2, Dasun Shanaka 1-0-4-0
Sri Lanka
Avishka Fernando c Samson b Kumar 26
Minod Bhanuka (wk) c Yadav b K. Pandya 10
Dhananjaya de Silva b Y Chahal 9
Charith Asalanka c Shaw b Chahar 44
Asehn Bandara b H. Pandya 9
Dasun Shanaka (Capt.) st. Kishan b Varun 16
Wanindu Hasaranga b Chahar 0
Chamika Karunaratne b Kumar 3
Isuru Udana c Yadav b Kumar 1
Dushmantha Chameera c H. Pandya b Kumar 1
Akila Dananjaya 1
Extras (w 6) 6
Total (all out in 18.3 overs) 126
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Bhanuka, 2.3 ov), 2-48 (de Silva, 6.2 ov), 3-50 (Fernando, 7.1 ov), 4-90 (Bandara, 12.6 ov), 5-111 (Asalanka, 15.3 ov), 6-111 (Hasaranga, 15.5 ov), 7-122 (Karunaratne, 16.6 ov), 8-124 (Shanaka, 17.4 ov), 9-125 (Udana, 18.1 ov), 10-126 (Chameera, 18.3 ov)
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3.3-0-22-4 (2w), Deepak Chahar 3-0-24-2 (1w), Krunal Pandya 2-0-16-1 (1w), Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-28-1, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-19-1 (1w), Hardik Pandya 2-0-17-1
Result: India won by 38 runs
Venue: R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Toss: Sri Lanka who elected to field first
Player of the Match: Bhuvneshvar Kumar
Series: India lead three-match series 1-0
T20I Match No.: 1,204
T20I Debut: Chamika Karunaratne and Charith Asalanka for Sri Lanka and Prithvi Shaw and Varun Chakravarthy for India
Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena and Raveendra Wimalasiri
Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle
Next Match: Tuesday, 27 July at the same venue (from 8 p.m.)