India Seal T20I Series Against Sri Lanka With a Game to Spare to Kick-start Gautam Gambhir Era – News18

Team India wrapped up the three-match T20I series in Sri Lanka with a game to spare as they posted their second win in two days over the hosts at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

India limited Sri Lanka to 161 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs, before successfully chasing down the revised target of 78 to win off 8 runs after rain interrupted the second innings.

Suryakumar Yadav opted to have a field first after winning the coin toss, which was delayed by 45 minutes due to inclement weather, and the choice paid dividends early as Arshdeep Singh got the first breakthrough with the scalp of Kusal Mendis in the fourth over of the powerplay.

Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka steadied the Lankan innings with a 54 runs stand, before the latter fell prey to Ravi Bishnoi after scoring 32 runs off 24 deliveries. Perera shared yet another 50-run stand with Kamindu Mendis, before Hardik Pandya dismissed Mendis for 26 off 23.

Dasun Shanaka went for a golden duck as Bishnoi castled the Sri Lankan before striking timber yet again to remove Wanindu Hasaranga for another first-ball-duck to complete his three-wicket haul.

The middle-order collapse continued as skipper Charith Asalanka was dismissed for 14 off 12 by Arshdeep before Axar Patel dismissed Maheesh Theekshana and Ramesh Mendis in the final over to limit the home team to a paltry 161 runs.

India opened the chase with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson, who replaced Shubman Gill on the day, and raced to 6 runs off the first three deliveries thanks to a boundary through the covers by the southpaw before the players had to head back to the hut as the night sky opened up.

India were handed a revised target of 78 to win in 8 overs, by the DL method, and Jaiswal came out swinging his willow to pick some quick runs. Samson, however, ran out of luck and was dismissed for a golden duck by spinner Maheesh Theekshana.

Suryakumar Yadav came out to bat and picked up where he left off yesterday and kept the scoreboard ticking with boundaries. The skipper seemed to be dealing in boundaries and brought his team past the 50-run milestone in 4.1 overs before being dismissed by Matheesha Pathirana for 26 off 12 deliveries.

Jaiswal helped the visitors close in on the target with a maximum before departing the crease after being scalped by Hasaranga.

Hardik Pandya relieved any pressure with a six in the sixth over to give India the cushion they needed to close out the game without any fuss.