Dhananjaya De Silva’s unbeaten brilliant 40 runs helped Sri Lanka to beat India by four wickets. Chamika Karunaratne’s also made crucial 12 runs in the winning cause. India got defeated by 4 wickets at the R Premadasa Stadium on Wednesday. Now the T20 Series is levelled by 1-1 and decider will be played on Thursday. Team India were forced to make 7 days in the playing 11. The rest of the players were isolated because Krunal Pandya was found positive on Tuesday. The men in Blue was only left with 11 players who all made it to the playing 11. India lost the toss and forced by Sri Lanka to bat first on a slow pitch.
Here’s are 3 quick take-aways for India from the 2nd T20 against Sri Lanka
India needs to bat aggressively
India went with only 5 batsman in the playing 11 as they had no choice. Both the openers , Shikar Dhawan and Ruturaj Gaikwad were cautious in the initial overs of the innings. All the Indian batsman played sluggishly throughout the inning. Dhawan, Samson and Rana played with the strike rate of below 100. Ruturaj Gaikwad was also struggling to hit boundaries. He made 21 off 18 deliveries. Only Devdutt Padikkal looked impressive. Indian team only managed to get 132 on the board at the loss of 5 wickets.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar back in form
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was very impressive in the first T20 against Sri Lanka. He picked up 4 crucial wickets and was also the man of the match. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was also good in the second T20 against Sri Lanka .
In the first three overs, he only conceded 9 runs and picked up the most important wicket of Avishka Fernando. But he was failed to make an impact in the 19th over of the game, bowling same loose deliveries. He conceded a six in the 19th over which almost sealed the game for the Sri Lanka team in the 19th over. It is good for team India that Bhuvneshwar Kumar is returning to his form . Bhuvneshwar Kumar will the key player for team India in the upcoming T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman alongside with Jasprit Bumrah.
Kuldeep Yadav proved his worth
Bhuvneshwar kumar picked the wicket of Avishka Fernando in the 3rd over and Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Samarawickrama in the 7th over of the game and then Kuldeep Yadav came into play and kept the pressure piling on the Sri Lanka team. Kuldeep Yadav was right on the money from the very first ball of his spell.
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He almost got Dasun Shanaka on the second ball of his spell but umpire gave him not out and India decided not to review . But the Hawk eye suggested, that was out. However, Kuldeep Yadav strucked in his second over of the spell dismissing the dangerous Sri Lanka captain, Dasun Shanaka. In the 12th over of the Sri Lankan innings , a catch was dropped off Kuldeep’s bowling but he managed to get rid of Minod Banuka in that over. Kuldeep Yadav’s spell kept India in the game till the last over.
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Well apart from these 3 quick take-aways, Varun Chakrabathy’s bowling has been a good plus and provided the selectors with the new headache for selecting the final 15 for the World Cup. And let’s also not forget about the valuable contribution from Rahul Chahar, who has been splendid with both batting and fielding. On the dark side Navdeep Saini who is already out now with injury seems to be out of India’s plans for at least few months or maybe an year. Saini is struggling with both form and fitness now.
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