Sri Lanka were 140 for 1 in a chase of 214 but then lost nine wickets for 30 runs
Top Performers:
India 213 for 7 (Suryakumar 58, Pant 49, Jaiswal 40, Pathirana 4-40) beat Sri Lanka 170 (Nissanka 79, Mendis 45, Parag 3-5, Arshdeep 2-24, Axar 2-38) by 43 runs
Even though they were apprehensive at times when defending a large total, India’s new T20I era under Suryakumar Yadav got off to a strong start. With just five bowling options, an Indian squad struggling mightily against a strong Sri Lankan batting lineup led by Pathum Nissanka’s blistering 79. Pressure from scoreboards was one of them. Even with nine wickets remaining, Sri Lanka needed to get 74 runs off of 36.
After being given a ball by Ravi Bishnoi at deep midwicket, Nissanka fell to Axar Patel, allowing the floodgates to flow. Kusal Perera fell four balls later, giving India a double-strike after the opening over. It would be the beginning of an incredible collapse, with Sri Lanka losing 9 out of 30 to give up a game they would have been favorites to win.
Jaiswal and Gill place a marker down
Shubman Gill had admitted on match eve that his T20I batting style needed to be improved. He demonstrated his words on Saturday by tugging and trimming everything just a little too short to put the bowlers under duress during the powerplay. As India’s new opening pair devolved into a spirited competition of one-upmanship, Yashasvi Jaiswal was equally combative.
Sri Lanka was offended by Jaiswal’s intentions and their early introduction of spin. He opened the proceedings by hitting a clean six over long off to Maheesh Theekshana, and he then unleashed a vicious slog sweep for four. Over the course of a 74-run first-wicket partnership, India struck 11 fours and three sixes in the powerplay. Gill then miscued a lofted drive to mid-on, which allowed Dilshan Madushanka to smash 34 off 16 balls.
SKY counteracts the double-strike of Sri Lanka
After Gill’s wicket, Jaiswal scored 40 off 21 balls in the very next ball, when Wanindu Hasaranga dismissed him with a powerful googly. But Suryakumar comes up on his boundary, gets inside the line, plays a pick-up and finds a boundary off the second ball. He had a chance in the 15th, when he edged a bouncer off Madhushankar in the last over, but Asita Fernando fell to fine leg. This is very serious.
Suryakumar hit Hasaranga and the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis with another arc from the leg side boundary with his multiple sweeps to make it 50 runs for the third wicket. Rishabh Pant’s contribution was just 11 runs. Suryakumar soon hit 50 runs from 22 balls, the second-fastest score in T20Is, but failed in his attempt against Matheesha Pathirana, who was penalized till the 12th over to stop the sessions..
Pathirana led the Sri Lankan attack
After reaching his boundary for the first time in 15 balls, Pant was dropped by Asitha at deep square leg on 11 runs. His next ball was a helicopter shot over midwicket on 16, breaking a 14-ball drought after Suryakumar departed. In fact, Pant simply didn’t get out of second gear for most of the time. Before the first six, he had scored 20 from 23. He reached 29 from the next 10 overs and fell for 49 when trying to catch Pathirana for his third boundary.
Pathirana followed a simple mantra of bowling straight and fast, relying on Hardik and Pant to clear the tail calmly, but dismissed Riyan Parag as he did Suryakumar- lbw to the low-handed pitcher when they lost full balls. Pathirana took 4 for 40 as India were reduced to 135 for 2 after 12 overs for 213.
Nissan-Mendi turbocharger
Sri Lanka began the chase in the third innings, with both batsmen caught on the stumps by batsman Axar. Nissanka scored six runs in the fourth by hitting Mohammed Siraj for two, first over third man and then over midwicket. Sri Lanka scored 50 runs in 31 balls.
As he continued to fire deliveries down leg, Ravi Bishnoi swept and reverse-swept with contempt, greeting Hardik with a bludgeon through point. India were on edge when Mendis broke through the line to ruthlessly flip Arshdeep Singh into the grass banks in the ninth over. However, the batsman failed to replicate the stroke off the subsequent delivery, holing out to deep midwicket.
India was pushed to make mistakes by Sri Lanka’s counterattack, and Nissanka scored five runs from an overthrow to reach his half-century off only 34 balls. Soon after, Nissanka unleashed his full potential, swiping Axar over the ropes, reversing course to reach inside the line of length balls, and pouncing on anything that was pulled down. However, Nissanka chopped when she tried to cut at 140 for 1. The leisurely stroll back signified an incomplete task.
Parag explains the choice
Arshdeep and Siraj each had two overs. India needed to defend 56 runs with four overs remaining, therefore it was inevitable that Suryakumar would go to his two front-line pacers. Rather than throwing the ball to Shivam Dube or Washington Sundar, he passed it to Parag. And unlike Axar and Bishnoi, Parag gave it a rip, although at a slower pace.
In a crucial juncture, Parag bowled Kamindu and conceded just five runs after India got lucky with Dasun Shanaka’s wicket, which was made possible by Siraj’s agility at short third. After that, he was granted a second over as Sri Lanka was playing at will and needed 44 runs in six deliveries to be all but out. He secured the victory by picking up Theekshana and Madushanka in quick succession.
