India vs Sri Lanka, 2nd T20I, Top Performances: Dasun Shanaka’s 56 & 2/4, Axar Patel’s 65, 2/24 and Kasun Rajitha 2/22 are top performances. Sri Lanka beat India and won by 16 runs in second T20I. Sri Lanka level up three-match series by 1-1.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka 206-6 (Shanaka 56*, Mendis 52, Axar 2-24) beat India 190-8 (Axar 65, Surya 51, Shanaka 2-4) by 16 runs
Player of the Match: Dasun Shanaka (56* and 2/4)
After a jailbreak in a last over victory in the first T20I game, India who have made it a routine of securing a series at home even without the first choice eleven, looked to seal the series against Sri Lanka during the second of the three-match T20I series at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (MCA) in Pune.
In three T20Is played in Pune thus far, India have won two of them and lost a solitary one.
Pandya’s captaincy & pacers’ bowling disappoint while Sri Lanka were excellent in all departments
India’s bowling was really inconsistent in this game. They bowled seven no balls which went for 22 runs in the innings. Hardik Pandya’s captaincy skills are too under a bit of a scanner. On a surface which was good for chasing in Mumbai, Hardik decided to bat first while on a track which helps teams batting first, he decided to bowl. These sorts of tactics might sound well after winning the series but it felt a bit senseless in the first two games as India after winning the first one by a whisker lost the second one by a decent margin.
Sri Lanka, even after losing the last game by a small margin, made a great comeback in all the departments; the batters went after the ball from the very first over as they were successful in going past the 200+ mark to give their bowlers a fair chance on a good batting track.
The bowlers too picked up early wickets to break the back of India before keeping their cool when they were going for so many runs at the backend of the innings. On an evening when India made mistakes bowling number of no-balls, Sri Lanka bowled not a single one to remain consistent throughout the whole game.
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All-round Sri Lanka earn deserving 16-run victory to level series
India captain Hardik Pandya on winning the toss opted to bowl first. Sri Lanka went with an unchanged playing eleven while India brought back a fit Arshdeep Singh in place of the woefully out of form Harshal Patel, besides resting an injured Sanju Samson to hand Rahul Tripathi a T20I cap as he became the third-oldest India player to make his T20I debut.
India didn’t begin well due to some inconsistent bowling in the powerplay as Sri Lanka shouldering on Kusal Mendis’ destructive knock reached 55-0 at the end of the powerplay. The spin duo of Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal pulled it back a little bit in the middle overs as Sri Lanka slowed down to 129-4 in their 15 overs.
But Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka with this wild knock of 56* in 22 balls carried them to 206-6 at the end of their allotted 20 overs. Since January 2010, it was the first time Sri Lanka scored a 200+ total against India in T20Is.
Chasing a huge score of 207, India struggled early on, losing wickets consistently as they reached just 39/4 at the end of the powerplay. They somehow managed to reach 64-5 at the halfway mark. The 89-run stand for the sixth wicket between Axar Patel and Suryakumar Yadav raised the hopes for a few minutes but Sri Lanka held their nerves to earn the victory by 16 runs.
It was Sri Lanka’s first T20I victory in India since the last one coming on the same ground in 2016.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the second T20I game between India and Sri Lanka at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune.
Shanaka punishes India with his devastating unbeaten 56 runs
It wasn’t any wonder to think what Dasun Shanka could do in the shortest format of the game with bat in hand. When Sri Lanka toured India at the start of the last year, Shanaka thumped 47* in 19 balls during the second T20I in Dharamsala.
When he came to the crease in this game, Sri Lanka were slowing down with 110-4 in the 14th over. With Charith Asalanka going after the bowlers, Shanaka decided to take some easy singles but he changed gears in the 18th over of the game.
Shanaka clubbed Umran Malik down the ground for a boundary before pulling him over the fine leg fence for a six. He sliced a no-ball over the man stationed at deep cover region for a six. Shanaka now has 29 T20I runs in 14 balls with three sixes and two fours against Umran Malik.
When poor Arshdeep Singh was introduced in the penultimate over the innings, Shanaka scooped the ball down to the fine leg region for a boundary before slamming the fourth ball over deep square leg for a six. Shivam Mavi was his next target as Shanaka smashed the slower ball in the same region for a six to begin the last over.
He then reached his fifth T20I fifty in just 20 balls becoming the fastest Sri Lanka batter to score a T20I fifty with a six that was nailed over the long-off region. The last ball of the innings too was smacked over the third man fence for a six as Dasun Shanaka with his 56* in 22 balls with the help of six maximums and two boundaries carried Sri Lanka over the 200-run mark.
Shanaka who now has scored 255 runs in his last 5 T20I innings against India at a strike rate of 205.64, now has a tally of 1305 T20I runs in 84 games. He also picked two wickets in the last over to take his T20I wickets tally to 23 in 84 games.
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Axar Patel kept India’s hope with all-round performances
Axar Patel bowled really well in the last game defending just 12 runs in the last over to win the game by two runs, and he showed his calibre with both bat and ball in this game.
Axar in his third over sent back Pathum Nissanka on 33 who in trying to hammer the pull shot found the fielder at the deep midwicket region. In his very next over, the left-arm spinner dismissed Dhananjaya de Silva on 3 who mistimed to use his feet as he was caught at long on. Axar Patel who finished with 2/24 in his four overs now has 36 T20I wickets in 39 games.
Even during the chase, Axar Patel came to the crease with India struggling at 57-5 in the tenth over. He smashed Wanindu Hasaranga for a six on his fourth ball over the midwicket region before pulling Chamika Karunaratne over the wicketkeeper’s head for a boundary. He then smacked Maheesh Theekshana for a boundary over covers before using his dancing shoes to club him down the ground for a six.
Axar’s battle with Hasaranga continued as he punished the spinner for four sixes in the 14th over in all parts of the ground with the notable one being the third one which was slapped down the ground. Axar Patel now has scored 27 runs in just 12 T20I balls against Hasaranga without getting dismissed.
With another six against Chamika Karunaratne that was powered over the long-off region, Axar Patel notched up his maiden T20I fifty in just 20 balls. Axar Patel who now has 267 T20I runs in 39 games, finished on 65 in 31 balls with the help of three boundaries and six maximums.
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Kasun Rajitha broke India’s back early with 2-22
In the first T20I game of the series in Mumbai, Kasun Rajitha didn’t have a great outing as he went for 47 runs in his 4 overs without any success but he made a great comeback in this game.
Rajitha with his very first ball of the second game sent back Ishan Kishan on 2 who in an attempt to go for a wild slog saw his stumps flying all around. In the very same over, the lanky fast bowler got rid of Shubman Gill on 5 who trying to check his pull shot was caught in the hands of the mid-on fielder.
When Rajitha came back in the 19th over with Axar Patel batting in a fierce mode, he gave away just 12 runs to finish with 2-22 in his four overs. Kasun Rajitha now has 15 T20I wickets in 15 games.
What’s to Come
The third game of the three-match T20I series between these two sides will be played on January 7 at the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) Stadium in Rajkot.
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Top Twitter reactions from Sri Lanka tour of India 2022, 2nd T20I, Pune:
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