Sri Lanka beat India by 5 wickets

Shikhar Dhawan continued his imperious form as India got back to winning ways with a comfortable six-wicket victory over Bangladesh in the second match of the Nidahas T20 tri-series here tonight.

Dushmantha Chameera emerged as the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2 for 33 in 4 overs. India is playing this tournament without its star players Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Dhawan (55) was yet again on song (much like the opener) and with some support from Raina (28) and Manish Pandey, India chased down the target of 140 runs in 18.4 overs. The left-handed batsman hammered 37-ball 66 (with six fours and four sixes) to guide his side to a comfortable win.

Nuwan Pradeep but the Indian failed, with the ball rattling his stumps.Then Dhawan and Pandey began India’s innings construction.

Prediction: India will be looking turn around their opening defeat to hosts Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

Jaydev Unadkat had the best bowling figure for India with 3/38 in four overs.

For India, Unadkat scalped three wickets while Tamil Nadu all-rounder Shankar, playing in only his second T20I match, took two. In the first match, local team Sri Lanka beat India by 5 wickets which sounds impossible. The captain believes the batting could have offered a bit more especially in the final overs despite calling India’s total par for the wicket. Against Sri Lanka, he was dismissed for a nought and with his strike-partner in vast form, Rohit needs to set the bar high.

“The kind of start they got was incredible, a lot of credit goes to Sri Lanka team as well”, he said. Hitting five fours and a six off Shardul Thakur, he plundered 26 off one over (a no-ball was delivered as well), and had struck 39 off 17 by the end of the Powerplay. “It was a decent wicket”, he added.

Unlike the first game against Sri Lanka, Indian bowlers were right on the mark from the start after captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl. Especially, when the team is not going through a good spell, such doubts creep in but I have urged my teammates to keep those doubts away and step out. The way Kusal batted in the Power Play, those 27 runs (in Shardul Thakur’s first over, the third of the chase) made the difference.

“I felt we have enough experience in our bowling line-ups”.