India 81 for 3 (Jaiswal 30, Suryakumar 26, Theekshana 1-16) beat Sri Lanka 161 for 9 (Kusal Perera 53, Nissanka 32, Bishnoi 3-26) by seven wickets via DLS method
Across the first two T20Is, Sri Lanka have lost 16 for 68 in the last six overs. There was so much purchase for spinners that part-time spinner Parag bowled his full allotment of overs and Axar bowled the last over of the first innings in which Sri Lanka could manage only 161 for 9.
Sri Lanka’s best bet to defend that sub-par total would have been to unleash their three spinners on India – they had shored up their spin attack by bringing in Ramesh Mendis for fast bowler Dilshan Madushanka – but rain disrupted them. Though Maheesh Theekshana knocked Sanju Samson over for a duck in India’s DLS-adjusted chase of 78 in eight overs, Wanindu Hasaranga conceded 16 in his first over. Suryakumar Yadav then lined up Theekshana for three successive fours to rush India towards victory.
Matheesha Pathirana dismissed Suryakumar for 26 off 12 balls, and Yashasvi Jaiswal holed out for 30 off 15 balls in the next over, but Hardik Pandya produced a cameo of his own, ensuring that India’s new era kicked off with a series win.
Nissanka, Perera lay strong base
After being asked to bat first, Sri Lanka dashed out of the blocks, scoring 54 for 1 in the powerplay. With the ball not swinging for Mohammed Siraj or Arshdeep Singh, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis had the license to pump the ball up the top.
Mendis had hoisted an on-pace seam-up delivery from Arshdeep for a four over mid-on, but when the left-arm seamer took pace off and bowled a cutter into the pitch, he could only miscue it to the infielder. Nissanka and Kusal Perera, though, kept batting with high intent and kept pinging the boundaries in the powerplay.
Whenever India’s bowlers strayed into his hips, Perera unleashed Sanath Jayasuriya-esque short-arm jabs and when he raced to a 31-ball half-century, he had Jayasuriya himself applauding warmly from the dugout. Perera had reached the landmark with some help from Rinku Singh, who slipped at the edge of the square-leg boundary and ended up parrying the ball away for six.
Rinku had also reprieved Kusal on 32 in the tenth over after wristspinner Bishnoi had drawn a top-edged sweep with a legbreak. By the time, Bishnoi had already pinned Nissanka lbw for 32 off 24 balls with a fizzing wrong’un.
India’s spinners wreck the base
India stuck to four specialist bowlers, including Axar, and backed Hardik and Parag to share the fifth-bowler duties. After impressing with 3 for 5 on Saturday, Parag extracted ripping turn and bounce. At one point, the broadcaster put up a graphic showing the average turn achieved by India’s spinners. Parag had generated 3.7 degrees of turn on an average in comparison to Axar’s 3 degrees and Bishnoi’s 1 degree.
Though Parag went wicketless, he once again showed that he could do a job with the ball. He even allowed Suryakumar to hold Hardik back until the 14th over.
Bishnoi then returned at the death to bowl both Dasun Shanaka and Hasaranga for ducks. Hardik did his bit by having Perera holing out for 53 off 34 balls, with Rinku holding onto a sharp catch and redeeming himself.
Suryakumar shook things up at the death, much like he had done on Saturday when he handed the ball to Parag during this phase. Bowling the 20th over for only the third time in his T20I career and sixth in his T20 career, Axar gave up just eight runs while taking the wickets of Theekshana and Ramesh on Sunday.
From 130 for 2, Sri Lanka subsided to 161 for 9. Game over for them.
Rain, SKY mess with SL’s spinners
After rain had delayed the start of the match by 45 minutes, it returned three balls into India’s chase and left them chasing a revised target of 78 in eight overs.
Sri Lanka had a sliver of hope when Theekshana took out Samson with a skidder and then beat Suryakumar’s outside edge with a carrom ball. Hasaranga, however, struggled to grip the wet ball and Jaiswal aced the match-up against the legspinner.
With the ball sliding onto the bat after the shower, Suryakumar played a variety of sweeps before he fell to Pathirana. Hardik finished the chase with nine balls to spare and left Hasaranga nursing figures of 2-0-34-1.
Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
