India throttle Sri Lanka in Riveting Cricket Match-by Shashank Kishore

India throttle Sri Lanka in Riveting Cricket Match-by Shashank Kishore

Source:Thuppahis

Shashank Kishore  in ESPNcricinfo, 27 July 2024 …. with highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

India 213 for 7 (Suryakumar 58, Pant 49, Jaiswal 40, Pathirana 4-40) beat Sri Lanka 170 (Nissanka 79, Mendis 45, Parag 3-5, Arshdeep 2-24, Axar 2-38) by 43 runs

India’s new T20I era under Suryakumar Yadav began on a winning note, even if it was jittery at various points in their defence of a big score. A spirited Sri Lankan batting unit, spearheaded by Pathum Nissanka and his free-stroking 79 left an Indian team playing with just five bowling options hanging onto crumbs of hope. One of them was scoreboard pressure. Sri Lanka had nine wickets in hand, but they still needed 74 off 36.

Yadav sweeps   &  Riyan Parag celebrates a wicket

Nissanka, reprieved a ball earlier by Ravi Bishnoi at deep midwicket, fell to Axar Patel to open the floodgates. India converted that opening into a double-strike when Kusal Perera fell four balls later. It would be the start of a sensational meltdown: Sri Lanka losing 9 for 30 in all to concede a game they would’ve backed themselves to win.

Gill and Jaiswal lay down a marker

On match eve, Shubman Gill had acknowledged the need to improve his T20I batting template. On Saturday, he walked the talk, cutting and pulling anything fractionally short to put pressure on the bowlers during the powerplay. Yashasvi Jaiswal was equally aggressive, as India’s new opening partnership turned into a healthy contest of one-upmanship.

Jaiswal’s intent upset Sri Lanka and their plans to introduce spin early. He welcomed Maheesh Theekshana with a clean hit for six over long-off and followed it with a ferocious slog sweep for four. In all, India scored 11 fours and three sixes in the powerplay during a 74-run first-wicket stand before Dilshan Madushanka had Gill miscuing a lofted shot to mid-on for a 16-ball 34.

SKY offsets Sri Lanka’s double-strike

Gill’s wicket was followed by Jaiswal’s off the very next ball for a 21-ball 40, Wanindu Hasaranga having him stumped off a ripping googly. But Suryakumar was quickly into his element, moving inside the line to play the pick-up flick and find a boundary from just his second ball. He offered a chance on 15 when he top-edged a Madushanka bouncer in the eighth over, only for Asitha Fernando to drop the catch at fine leg. It would prove costly.

Suryakumar peppered different arcs on the legside boundary with his plethora of sweeps, punishing Hasaranga and the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis to raise a half-century stand for the third wicket; Rishabh Pant’s contribution to it a mere 11 runs. Suryakumar soon brought up his half-century off just 22 balls, his second-fastest in T20Is, but fell in an attempt to take on Matheesha Pathirana, who was held back till the 12th over to close out the innings.

Matheesha Pathirana got rid of Suryakumar Yadav•Associated Press

Pathirana leads Sri Lanka fightback

It took Pant a dropped catch – by Asitha at deep square leg – and 15 balls to find his first boundary. His next one, a helicopter shot over midwicket in the 16th over broke a 14-ball boundary-drought following Suryakumar’s dismissal. In fact, Pant barely managed to get out of second gear for much of his innings. Prior to his first six, he scratched his way 20 off 23. He made 29 off the next 10, eventually falling 49 while attempting to takedown Pathirana for a third boundary in a row.

Pathirana stuck to a simple mantra of bowling straight and fast, relying on a slight tail-in to clean bowl Hardik and Pant, while dismissing Riyan Parag in the same way he did Suryakumar – lbw to a low-arm slinger as they missed full balls. Pathirana finished with 4 for 40 as India finished with 213 after being 135 for 2 after 12 overs.

The Nissanka-Mendis turbocharge

Sri Lanka kickstarted their chase in the third over as both batters got stuck into Axar’s drifters into the stumps. Nissanka cranked it up a notch when he hit Mohammed Siraj for two sixes in the fourth over, ramping him first over third man and then clubbing him over deep midwicket. Sri Lanka raised their fifty off 31 balls.

Hardik was welcomed with a bludgeon through point, Ravi Bishnoi swept and reverse-swept with disdain as he kept firing deliveries down leg. When Mendis got inside the line to mercilessly flick Arshdeep Singh into the grass banks in the ninth over, India were nervy. But off the next ball, the batter’s attempt to repeat the shot had him holing out to deep midwicket.

Sri Lanka’s counter-punch forced mistakes from India, Nissanka raising his half-century off 34 balls with an overthrow that gave him five runs. Nissanka’s exhibited his full range soon after, reverse-sweeping Axar, pouncing on anything dragged down and even improvising to get inside the line of length balls and swatting them over the ropes. But at 140 for 1, Nissanka chopped on attempting to cut. The slow walk back signalled a job unfinished.

Parag justifies selection

Siraj and Arshdeep had two overs apiece. With four overs left and India needing to defend 56, it seemed obvious Suryakumar would turn to his two frontline pacers. Instead he threw the ball to Parag, who had been picked ahead of Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar. And unlike Bishnoi and Axar, Parag slowed it down and gave it a rip.

After India got lucky with Dasun Shanaka’s wicket courtesy a run out made possible by Siraj’s athleticism at short third, Parag bowled Kamindu and gave away only five runs at a crunch moment. Then with Sri Lanka in a freefall and all but out needing 44 off six, he was given a second over, when he picked up Theekshana and Madushanka off successive deliveries to seal victory.

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Rex Clementine in The Island, 28 July 2024  … where the title reads  “Sri Lanka collapse in dramatic style in first T-20″

Sri Lanka were threatening to chase down their highest target in T-20 Internationals, but after a terrific start they collapsed to hand India a convincing 43 run win at Pallekele on Saturday.

Chasing 214, Sri Lanka were cruising at 140 for one, but the dismissal of Pathum Nissanka triggered a sensational collapse.  The hosts lost nine wickets for 30 runs in 38 balls to give India a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Sri Lanka had promised to address their batting woes, but instead of beefing up the batting, they strengthened the bowling and paid the price. It has been discussed before that Dasun Shanaka has failed to do the job at number six but again he was a failure run out for a duck without facing a ball. Dasun did not bowl either and had failed during the World Cup too.

Sri Lanka will be better off dropping Dasun down to number seven and getting an additional batter into the top six to ensure that collapses of yesterday’s nature  become  a familiar sight.

Sri Lanka did give away at least 20 runs due to poor fielding while dropped catches too hurt them badly. India caught and fielded well and fielding made a big difference in the game.

Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis added 84 runs for the first wicket in 52 balls and Nissanka in particular was batting so well putting the loose balls away with ease.

Th opener reached his half-century in 34 balls before being cleaned up by Axar Patel. His 79 came off 48 balls with seven fours and four sixes. His dismissal took the momentum away from Sri Lanka as the new batters perished trying to keep pace with the run chase.

India got off to a good start reaching 74 for one at the end of the Power Play. Wanindu Hasaranga then claimed a wicket off his first ball to check the run flow.

Suryakumar Yadav ensured that India finished with a competitive score as he top scored with 58 runs in 26 balls with eight fours and two sixes.

India’s batters were dismissed trying to take on Matheesha Pathirana as the fast bowler finished with four wickets.

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