Indore: Pacemen Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini shared five wickets between them to help restrict Sri Lanka to 142/9, before the batsmen scored fluently to secure a comfortable seven-wicket win in the second T20I played at Indore’s Holkar stadium on Tuesday, 7 January.
On what had seemed like a fine batting pitch right from the start, India had no trouble in hunting down a Sri Lankan total that had been reined in superbly by a late flurry of wickets from Thakur.
KL Rahul began in sublime fashion, silkenly timing balls through the off-side off both spinners and fast bowlers. Rahul’s fluency in the small chase gave Dhawan the license to score at a more relaxed rate.
It was a googly from Wanindu Hasaranga that eventually produced the breakthrough, as he disturbed Rahul’s stumps when the batsman tried to dance down and hit him out of the park, ending his innings at 45 off 32 balls, featuring six fours.
In his next over, Hasaranga had Dhawan removed too, and that may have given Sri Lanka a glimmer of hope. But Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli quelled any hopes of a resurgence, quickly reasserting control. Shreyas was dismissed for a 26-ball 34 when he tried to play a pull shot off Lahiru Kumara, but India needed only a further six runs for victory. Kohli (30* off 17) finished the chase with a superbly timed pull shot over deep backward square leg, as India sealed the deal with 15 balls to spare.
Earlier, eyes were trained on Jasprit Bumrah, whose international comeback after sustaining a back injury last August was delayed with the first T20I in Guwahati having been washed out. He did seem a touch rusty early on, but was able to unleash his variations to great effect later in the evening.
Gunathilaka and Avishka Fernando began solidly for Sri Lanka, promptly putting away the bad balls. Washington Sundar provided the opening breakthrough, having Avishka caught at mid-off for a 16-ball 22.
But it was Navdeep Saini who arguably produced the wicket of the evening: a rapid 147.7 kmph yorker aimed at the base of Gunathilaka’s middle stump which the batsman was unable to jam out, the Sri Lankan departing for 20.
Kuldeep Yadav then had Oshada Fernando stumped for 10, but his next wicket was significantly more important. Kusal Perera (34 off 28) had just begun revving up and had struck two sixes, including one the previous ball, but Kuldeep held his nerve and tossed it wide outside off. Perera mistimed another big shot to long on and Dhawan made no mistake.
In the next over Saini produced a sharp bumper to have Bhanuka Rajapaksa caught behind and soon later a Bumrah slower ball had Dasun Shanaka bowled for seven. Shardul Thakur joined the party in the 19th over, dismissing Dhananjaya de Silva, Isuru Udana and Lasith Malinga. Things could have been worse for Sri Lanka had Wanindu Hasaranga not struck the final three balls of the innings each for four off Bumrah. Still it wasn’t enough to pose a threat to the formidable Indian line-up.
The third and final T20I will be played in Pune on Friday, 10 January.