2nd T20I: De Silva, Dananjaya help Sri Lanka level series vs depleted India in Colombo
Sri Lanka beat a Covid-hit India team by 4 wickets in the second international T20 tournament on Wednesday to level the 3-match series 1-1 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
Chasing a challenging target of 133 on a slow pitch at the R Premadasa stadium, the Lankans cross ed the finish line in the final over thanks to a handy 7th-wicket partnership between Dhananjaya de Silva and Chamika Karunaratne.
The duo rescued the Lankan innings in the death overs, after they were reduced to 105 for 6, to register only their second win out of 5 games against India this month. De Silva top-scored with an unbeaten 40 to guide Sri Lanka home along with Karunaratne, who remained not out on 12. Opening Minod Bhanuka also chipped in with a crucial knock of 36 off 31 balls at the top of the order.
The Indian bowlers made a fist of the game with Kuldeep Yadav leading the way with 2 for 30 from his 4 overs while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Chetan Sakariya, Rahul Chahar and Varun Chakravarthy picked up a wicket each.
But Sri Lanka’s performance came against an Indian side which was missing 9 of its regular players after Krunal Pandya tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Prithvi Shaw, Deepak Chahar, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Yuzvendra Chahal and Krishnappa Gowtham were ruled out of the final two T20Is after being identified as the close contacts of Krunal, who tested positive on July 27 which forced the postponement of this match by 24 hours.
India had to field 4 debutants Nitish Rana, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Chetan Sakariya due to the unavailability of the other players.
LANKAN SPINNERS CHOKE INDIA
Earlier, the Sri Lankans restricted India to 132 for 5 on a sluggish wicket at the R Premadasa Stadium after Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Shanaka operated with 5 spinners out of which Akila Dananjaya ended up as the pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets from 29 runs from his 4 overs while Wanindu Hasaranga and the skipper bagging a wicket each.
Shikhar Dhawan top-scored with 40 off 42 balls while Devdutt Padikkal and Ruturaj Gaikwad made useful contributions but the inexperience showed as the rest struggled to failed to get going on the turning wicket.
India only had 4 specialist batsmen in their lineup along with wicketkeeper Sanju Samson due to the unavailability of the 9 regulars.
The third and final T20I will be played at the same venue in Colombo on July 29 after which the Indian players will return home while Krunal Pandya and 8 of his close contacts will continue to quarantine in their hotel rooms.
