India beat Lanka in Nidahas Trophy

Wednesday 14th March 2018 06:55 EDT
 
 

India beat Sri Lanka by six wickets to continue their winning run in the Nidahas Twenty20 Tri-Series in Colombo on Monday. Opting to bowl, young Shardul Thakur (4/27) registered his best T20 bowling figures as Sri Lanka lost their way in the middle overs to be restricted to 152 for nine. The match was reduced to 19-overs-a-side affair after over an hour was lost due to rain. Later chasing the modest target, India overcame early jitters riding on Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 42 and Dinesh Karthik’s 39 not out to overwhelm Sri Lanka’s total with nine balls to spare.

But it was not easy as India witnessed a horrendous start to their chase, losing both the openers - skipper Rohit Sharma (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (8) early. Rohit’s lean patch with the bat continued as he once again perished early.

To make matters worse for India, Dananjaya struck again an over later, this time getting the wicket of Dhawan who gave a simple catch to Thisara Perera at mid-on. In came Suresh Raina (27) and made his intentions clear with a couple of fours and sixes to lift India. But the left-hander looked in a hurry and in the process lost his wicket, as India slumped to 63 for three after seven overs.

KL Rahul (18), who came in place of Rishabh Pant, looked in good tough during his short stay before being dismissed in a strange manner. After surviving a close run out chance in the previous ball, Rahul got out hit wicket while trying to work a Jeevan Mendis delivery into the leg side.

But thereafter, Pandey and Karthik ensured there were no more hiccups as they stitched 68 runs for the fifth wicket to guide India home comfortably. Earlier sent into bat, Kusal Mendis once again shone bright for Lanka scoring 55 off 38 balls before Indian bowlers led by Thakur brought their side back into the game with wickets at regular intervals. Thakur returned with impressive figures of 4/27, while Washinton Sundar (2/21) scalped two wickets as India made a strong fightback after leaking runs in the first 10 overs. Vijay Shankar (1/30), Yuzvendra Chahal (1/34) and Jaydev Unadkat (1/33) also accounted for a wicket each.

But initially it looked Rohit Sharma’s decision to bowl first backfired as Sri Lanka got off to a flying start by scoring 24 runs off the first two overs. Thakur gave India the breakthrough when he dismissed Danushka Gunathilaka (17) in the third over with Suresh Raina taking a stunning catch at midwicket. Sundar then cleaned up in-form Kushal Perera (3) in the next over as the batsman went for a reverse sweep. But thereafter Kusal Mendis took the the Indians bowlers to task in Upul Tharanga’s (22) company as the duo added 62 runs for the third wicket to help Sri Lanka reach 94 for two after 10 overs. But India pulled Sri Lanka back again with quick wickets in the form of Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis. The big blow for Lanka came when Kusal Mendis departed next, giving away a soft catch to Rohit off Chahal.

Brief Scores: India 153/4 (Manish Pandey 42*, Dinesh Karthik 39*; Akila Dananjaya 2/19) beat Sri Lanka (Kusal Mendis 55; Shardul Thakur 4/27)


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