Buoyed by the spirited performances of the duo, India gave the Lankans a total of 200 runs in the chase, which turned out to be a tall order for the islanders as expected. Charit Aslanka (53 not out in 47b; 5×4) scored some welcome runs and Chamika Karunaratne (21 on 14b; 2×6) and dusmantha chimera (24 out of 14; 2×4, 1×6) made some hard hits towards the end, but by then the dice had been thrown.
Sri Lanka lost by 62 runs. for India, Bhuvneshwar Kumar Things were going well with a wicket on the first ball of the Sri Lankan innings. in-form pathum nissanka Was cast by a delivery that was kept low.
Bhuvi got another wicket in his next over, with Kamil Mishra trying to pull a good length delivery and caught at mid-wicket. After a poor start, the Sri Lankan players could not recover and kept losing wickets at regular intervals and ended at 137/6.
Kishan returned to his combative best after a poor series against the West Indies. Taking a special liking to Karunaratne in the third over, he got off the southeast block as if he had to catch a train. He hit three fours one after the other and took 15 runs in that over which made India roll.
Lahiru Kumara Kishan behaved similarly for 14 runs in the fourth over. Kishan had five fours and two sixes in the powerplay overs, while his opening partner Rohit Sharma Solitude had hit the limit.
But that changed after the powerplay as Rohit, who was struggling initially, got into his groove and took the leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay to the cleaners. In the middle, Kishan gets a lucky break, with Zenith Lianage dropping a catch at deep mid-wicket off Vandersay. Soon after, Kishan completed his second T20I fifty in just 30 balls.
Kumara’s back-of-the-hand slow delivery ended Rohit’s (44 runs in 32b; 2×4, 1×6) innings as the ball was kept low and hit the stumps while the Indian skipper hit the ground with an aerial shot. were taken. The opening wicket partnership produced 111 runs to give India the initiative.
Rohit was dismissed after three overs of calm, but Kumara’s 16th over brought India back on track. Kishan scored 17 runs in three balls with one six and two fours and also reached close to the century.
In the next over, however, Kishan’s (89 runs in 56b; 10×4,3×6) came to an end as Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka’s blistering delivery went too big on him and a pull shot was tossed into the air, leaving Lianage, running away. Mid wicket, managed to catch it.
After Kishan left, it was Shreyas Iyer (57 not out at 28b; 5×4, 2×6) show. An official pull to a boundary to Chamira let her go. In the next two overs – off Karunaratne (19th) and Chameera (20th) – Iyer scored 18 and 16 to take India to a total of 199/2.
Iyer used the crease very well and collected a six each in both the overs off the first ball. Both bowlers then erred in their respective lines, and Iyer hit some boundaries – eventually reaching his fourth T20I half-century off just 25 balls.
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