Sri Lankan won the second game to keep the three-T20I series alive.
With COVID-19 breaching India’s bio-bubble, the visitors had to hand debut caps to as many as four players, including Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya.
Invited to bat first, India posted a below-par 132/5 in 20 overs. It was a listless batting performance from the hosts as none of them except for skipper Shikhar Dhawan (40) managed to touch the 30-run mark.
For Sri Lanka, Akila Dananjaya (2-29) claimed two wickets while Dushmantha Chameera (1-23), Wanindu Hasaranga (1-30) and captain Dasun Shanaka (1-14) chipped in with one scalp each.
In reply, the hosts rode on Dhananjaya de Silva’s unbeaten 40 off 34 balls and Minod Bhanuka’s 31-ball 36 to get over the line with four wickets in hand and two balls to spare. Chamika Karunaratne also played a valuable cameo of 6-ball 12*.
The spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav (2-30), Varun Chakravarthy (1-18) and Rahul Chahar (1-27) bowled brilliantly for India and took four wickets between them. Vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1-21) also bowled economically but the entire bowling effort wasn’t quite enough on the day to defend the paltry total.
With this victory, Sri Lanka levelled the series 1-1, with the third and final T20I to be played at the same venue on Thursday (July 29).
Cricket fraternity lauded the Sri Lankan team for their stunning fightback in the second T20I to keep the series alive.
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