Sri Lanka defeated Team India by 16 runs in the second T20 match played in Pune. With this, the team has come on par with the three-match series 1-1. Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka was the player of the match for his 56 not out off 22 balls and saving 21 runs in the last over of the second innings.
Chasing the target of 207 runs for the win, the Indian team had lost five wickets for 57 runs at one stage. From here, Suryakumar Yadav and Akshar Patel brought India back into the match by adding 91 runs in the sixth-wicket partnership.
But, as soon as this partnership broke, Sri Lanka made a comeback. The Indian team could only reach 190 runs for 8 wickets in 20 overs. The third and deciding match will be played in Rajkot on January 7.
Indian captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl, but Sri Lankan openers Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka proved him wrong. The pair scored runs quickly. At one time the Lankan team had scored 80 runs in 8 overs without losing wickets.
In the middle, the spinners put brakes on the run rate, but the Sri Lankan batsmen took a more aggressive approach. The pair of captain Shanaka-Karunaratne scored 77 runs in the last 5 overs to take the team’s score to 206 for 6 wickets.
Sri Lankan wickets fell like this
- First: Kusal Mendis (52 runs) was lbw by Yajuvendra Chahal on the second ball of the 9th over.
- Second: Bhanuka Rajapaksa was bowled by fast bowler Umran Malik on the first ball of the 10th over.
- Third: On the third ball of the 12th over, Akshar Patel got Pathum Nissanka caught by Rahul Tripathi at deep midwicket boundary.
- Fourth: On the fourth ball of the 14th over, Akshar Patel got caught by Deepak Hooda at long-on.
- Fifth: Umran Malik got Charith Aslanka caught by Gill on the 5th ball of the 15th over.
- Sixth: On the sixth ball of the 15th over, Umran bowled Hasaranga.
In the second T20, Arshdeep Singh, who joined the team in place of Harshal Patel, bowled 3 consecutive no-balls in the second over of the powerplay. He also bowled 2 no-balls while ending his spell. He conceded 37 runs in 2 overs with 5 no-balls in the match.
India’s bowlers gave 206 runs in the first innings. Three pacers gave away 138 runs in 10 overs. Shivam Mavi gave 53 runs in 4 overs, Umran Malik gave 48 runs in 4 overs and Arshdeep Singh gave 37 runs in 2 overs. Apart from these, Hardik Pandya, Akshar Patel, and Yuzvendra Chahal gave only 67 runs in 10 overs.
The top-order, which flopped in the first T20, could not do anything special in the second match as well. The team lost 4 wickets in the powerplay for just 34 runs. Ishaan Kishan 2, Shubman Gill 5, Rahul Tripathi 5, and Hardik Pandya were dismissed after scoring 12 runs.
This is how India’s wickets fell
- First: Ishaan Kishan was bowled by Kasun Rajitha in the very first ball of the second over.
- Second: On the last ball of the second over, Shubman Gill caught Teekshana at mid-on.
- Third: Dilshan Madushanka got Rahul Tripathi caught by wicketkeeper Mendis.
- Fourth: Pandya was caught by Mendis behind the wicket on the ball of Chamika Karunaratne.
- Fifth: Deepak Hooda hit the ball of Hasaranga de Silva in the hands of Dhananjaya de Silva.
- Sixth: Hasaranga caught Suryakumar at long-on on Madushanka’s slower ball.
- Seventh: Shanaka’s full toss ball was hit by Akshar Karunaratne at long off.
- Eighth: Shanaka’s high full toss ball was hit by Shivam Mavi in the hands of Teekshan at extra cover.