India maintains T20 supremacy winning a thriller
Chris Dhambarage
The reigning World Champions India recovered from a stunning middle
order collapse to post a thrilling three wicket victory over Sri Lanka
in their historic inaugural Twenty20 International worked off under
lights at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.
The Indians restricted the home side to 171 for 4 and then reached
their target with three wickets and four balls to spare in this very
first Twenty20 International played in Sri Lanka.
India were cruising along at one stage following a 45 run stand
between the two left handers Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh. However Sri
Lanka came back into the game through a splendid spell of bowling from
leg spinner Malinga Bandara.
But India again recovered through their eighth wicket pair of
brothers Irfan and Yusuf Pathan who held their nerves during the latter
stages to put on 59 runs from just 25 deliveries.
Yusuf was simply amazing as he remained unbeaten on 22 from ten
deliveries and Irfan on 33 from 16 balls.
Earlier skipper Tillekeratne Dilshan led from the front with his
maiden Twenty20 half century to help Sri Lanka reach 171 for 4 from
their 20 overs after they had won the toss and elected to bat first. The
dashing opener launched a calculated attack on the experienced Indian
bowlers to hit a top score of 61 from just 47 deliveries.
Dilshan who was dropped by Irfan Pathan from the bowling off Zaheer
Khan in the very first over took full advantage to take Sri Lanka into a
position of strength with some clean hitting before making his exit in
the 17th over.
Dilshan reached his fifty while stroking consecutive boundaries from
the bowling of Ishant Sharma who in fact conceded 17 runs from that
over. The Sri Lankan captain also put on 45 runs for the fourth wicket
along with Chamara Kapugedera who made a breezy 16 from just nine
deliveries.
Sri Lanka of course were well set for a much bigger total at the
start when Sanath Jayasuriya set the stadium ablaze with some power
hitting from the very first over. The dynamic left hander was
threatening to take the game away from the Indians before he was undone
by a stunning catch from Ishant Sharma.
Jayasuriya collected 18 runs from the fourth over bowled by Ishant
Sharma while hoisting two sixes on either side of the wicket during a
brilliant opening stand of 59 runs from just 5.5 overs.
Sri Lanka were maintaining a run rate of over ten runs at this stage
of the innings but they somewhat lost their momentum after the dismissal
of Jayasuriya. However Chamara Silva joined skipper Dilshan and the pair
brought up Sri Lanka’s third fifty from only 23 deliveries.
The Lankans of course failed to add the finishing touches with the
pair of Chamara Silva and Kaushalya Weeraratne been able to collect just
three singles from the last over of the innings.
SRI LANKA
T. Dilshan c Raina b I. Sharma 61
S. Jayasuriya c I. Sharma b I. Pathan 33
J. Mubarak c and b Y. Pathan 13
C. Kapugedera c Sehwag b Y. Pathan 16
C. Silva not out 21
K. Weeraratne not out 10
Extras: (b1, lb10, w6) 17
Total (for four wickets) 171
Fall of wickets: 1-59 (Jayasuriya), 2-87 (Mubarak),
3-107 (Kapugedera), 4-152 (Dilshan).
Bowling: Zaheer 4-0-34-0,
I. Sharma 4-0-40-1 (w2),
I. Pathan 4-0-34-1 (w2),
Y. Pathan 4-0-23-2,
Jadeja 4-0-29-0 (w2).
Overs: 20
INDIA
G. Gambhir c Weeraratne b Thushara 13
V. Sehwag run out 1
S. Raina c de Saram b Bandara 35
Y. Singh c Dilshan b Mubarak 32
MS Dhoni b Bandara 13
R. Sharma c Mubarak b Jayasuriya 4
R. Jadeja b Bandara 5
Y. Pathan not out 22
I. Pathan not out 33
EXTRAS: (lb2, w14) 16
TOTAL (for seven wickets) 174
FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14 (Sehwag), 2-14 (Gambhir), 3-81 (Y. Singh),
4-99 (Raina), 5-108 (Dhoni), 6-110 (R. Sharma), 7-115 (Jadeja).
BOWLING: Malinga 3.2-0-38-0 (w2),
Thushara 3-0-27-1 (w3),
Fernando 4-0-44-0 (w8),
Weeraratne 1-0-12-0,
Mubarak 1-0-9-1,
Bandara 4-0-32-3 (w1),
Jayasuriya 3-0-10-1.
OVERS: 19.2 |