Lankans stun India
After registering a comfortable 3-0 win against Australia few days back, world No.1 India were outplayed as Sri Lanka registered a comfortable five-wicket win in the first Twenty20 international in Pune on Tuesday.
Debutant Kasun Rajitha and 24-year-old Dasun Shanaka picked up three wickets each and captain Dinesh Chandimal made a crucial run-a-ball 35 as the visitors reached the target of 102 in 18 overs to take 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Chasing a low total for 102 runs to win, Sri Lanka didn't have a good start as Ashish Nehra dismissed Niroshan Dickwella (4) in the first over and then Danushka Gunathilaka (9) in the fifth over to give India a slight hope. However, Chamara Kapugedera (25) and Chandimal had a 39-run stand for the third wicket to steady the visitors innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin made a breakthrough at a crucial stage by trapping Kapugedra in front but it was still a very tough ask for India to defend 101. Chandimal was one of the rare batsmen who showed the skill to tackle the testing conditions as he was the highest scorer of the match.
However, he could not see Lanka through as he suffered some cramp and was adjudged LBW off Sures Raina. Milinda Siriwardana struck 21 off 14 balls as he finished the match with a flourish hitting Jasprit Bumrah for a six and a boundary.
For India, Ashish Nehra (2/21 in 3 overs) and Ashwin (2/13 in 3 overs) got a couple of wickets each but it was the failure of the batsmen that hurt India the most.
Earlier, put into bat first on a green pitch, Indian batsmen fell like pack of cards from the word go. It all started when pacer Rajitha picked up in-form Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane in the first over.
Rohit Sharma (0) miscued his shot and Dushmantha Chameera took a superb catch at mid-off. Rahane (4) fell on the last ball of the same over when he attempted to clip a ball to leg but only managed a leading edge to get caught at short extra-cover.
India could have been three down inside three overs but Suresh Raina was dropped by Danushka Gunathilaka at third man. Opener Shikhar Dhawan then tried to take the attack to the opposition and hit one out of the park but his stay did not last long as Rajitha got his third wicket when he forced a thick edge off the left-hander which flew to third man and Gunathilaka did not made any mistake this time.
SCORES IN BRIEF
INDIA: 101 all out in 18.5 overs (Raina 20, Yuvraj 10, Ashwin 31 not out; Rajitha 3-29, Chameera 2-14, Shanaka 3-16)
SRI LANKA: 105 for 5 in 18 overs (Chandimal 35, Kapugedera 25, Siriwardana 21 not out; Nehra 2-21, Ashwin 2-13)
Result: Sri Lanka won by 5 wickets.
Player-of-the-match: Kasun Rajitha.