Pune: India’s winning sequence in T20 internationals came to an embarrassing end here Tuesday night after a depleted Sri Lanka pulled off an upset five-wicket victory to take 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Put into bat on a lively track, which had fair amount of bounce and seam movement, India were skittled out for a paltry 101 in 18.5 overs with rookie pace trio of Kasun Rajitha (3/29), Dashun Shanaka (3/16) and Dushmantha Chameera (2/14) doing bulk of the damage.
Sri Lanka reached the target with two overs to spare. Senior players Dinesh Chandimal (35) and Chamara Kapugedara (25) made useful contributions.
If Rajitha blew away the top-order, it was Shanaka and Chameera, who decimated the middle and lower-order with only Ravichandran Ashwin (31 n o, 24b, 5×4) helping the home team cross the three-figure mark.
Such was the abject surrender by the Indian batsmen in the wake of extra bounce and moving deliveries that only Yuvraj Singh (10) and Suresh Raina (20, 20b, 1×4, 1×6) were the other batsmen to reach double figures apart from Ashwin.
When Sri Lanka batted, they lost a few wickets in between but the target was too small to defend as the 39-run stand between skipper Chandimal and Kapugedara turned out to be a clincher. Milinda Siriwardana struck an unbeaten 21 (14b, 1×4, 1×6) as he finished the match with a flourish hitting Jasprit Bumrah for a six and a boundary.
There was no dearth of effort from the Indian bowlers with Ashish Nehra (2/21) and Ashwin (2/13) bowling their hearts out but it was the failure of the batsmen that hurt India the most.
If Sri Lanka win one of the remaining two games, they will win the series which will take them to the top of the ICC T20 rankings.
Dhoni however, blamed the pitch for the loss. “It was not a T20 wicket. It was an English pitch, spongy, bouncy with grass. It was also not rolled properly… batting was difficult,” said the Indian skipper. PTI
