Second-string Sri Lanka annihilate India at home in first T20
Debutant Kasun Rajitha decimated the Indian top-order reducing the hosts to a paltry 101, with Ravichandran Ashwin being the top scorer with 31 runs. Ashish Nehra provided India with two early breakthroughs, but Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal guided his team home with a matured innings in the end.
Chasing a measly total of 101 on a tricky wicket, Sri Lanka got off to a poor start. Old warhorse Ashish Nehra dismissed debutant Niroshan Dickwella with a bouncer outside the off-stump. The southpaw's attempt to pull the ball resulted in a top edge, which was safely caught by Shikhar Dhawan at mid-on.
Dickwella's opening partner Danushka Gunathilaka was also dismissed in a similar fashion, with Dhawan taking his catch at mid-on off Nehra. At the other end, Jasprit Bumrah was producing a fine performance, as he managed to swing the ball both ways. The pacer conceded just six runs in his first three overs.
But after the initial struggle against Nehra and Bumrah, Chandimal and Chamara Kapugedera stabilized the Sri Lankan innings, and milked the bowling of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja.
Dhoni did not bring on Ravichandran Ashwin till the 11th over the game, who. when he did come on, picked up Chamara Kapugedara in his first over and Dasun Shanaka in his third over. Why the off-spinner was not brought on early on in the match remains a mystery, along with the fact that Nehra's full quota of overs were as well not utlized.
In the end, Milinda Siriwardana saw his team over the target with a six and a four in the 18th over to take Sri Lanka home with five wickets in hand and two overs remaining.
Earlier, Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and put Indian into bat on a green pitch. Niroshan Dickwella and Kasun Rajitha made their debut for a depleted Sri Lankan side, while India brought in Ajinkya Rahane for Virat Kohli into the lineup.
At the start of the game, Sunil Gavaskar opined that the grass was merely there to hold the pitch together, rather than assisting the fast bowlers, and that we should expect "lots of fours and sixes”. However, Gavaskar was wrong.
Debutant Kasun Rajitha announced his arrival with a spellbinding opening spell. India had hardly faced any swing and bounce during their trip to Australia, and all of a sudden they were struggling to bat today at Pune under these conditions. Kasun breathed fire, and he got the ball to swing away from the right-handers.
In just the second ball of his international debut, Rajitha dismissed the in-form Rohit Sharma. It was a good length delivery, that bounced more than Rohit anticipated, and he could only drive it straight to mid-off, where Dushmantha Chameera took a wonderful catch.
Ajinkya Rahane arrived at the crease, which will be his IPL home this year, and left soon after. After glancing one down to the third-man boundary, Rahane tried to flick the ball off his pads in the next ball, but the ball straightened and took the leading edge, before Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal produced another brilliant diving catch.
With India tottering at 5/2, Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan decided to fight fire with fire. Both the batsmen were looking for cross-batted shots over midwicket, and Raina was lucky to be dropped off Rajitha's bowling down at third-man.
After a couple of sixes and a boundary, Rajitha finally got his third wicket in the fifth over. Dhawan did not learn anything from Raina's reprieval, and attempted another slog over mid-wicket. The ball went straight to third-man, and this time Gunathilaka made no mistake.
Chandimal was quick to bring his off-spinner on as soon as Yuvraj Singh arrived at the crease, but the southpaw danced down the track, in only the second ball he faced, and dumped tit over the long on boundary.
Raina got another respite in the first ball of the eighth over, when he flicked Dasun Shanuka straight to square leg, but Siriwardana put the catch down. But that hardly mattered, as Shanuka dismantled his stumps the very next ball with a delightful in-seaming delivery, that went straight through Raina's bat and pad.
Shanuka, who had played just one T20I before this game, bounced out MS Dhoni two balls later. The Indian captain could not get on top of the bounce in his attempt to pull the ball, and only managed to edge it behind to the keeper.
There was little respite for India from the other end as well with Dushmantha Chameera making his presence felt on the speedometer. The pacer dismissed Yuvraj in the 10th over with a bouncer clocked at 149kmph, which the Indian star could only manage to top-edge to Chameera.
In the next over, Hardik Pandya was trapped in front of the wicket, by an in-swinging delivery from Shanaka, and India were at 58/7 by the 11th over. Ravichandran Ashwin (31 not out) provided some resistence for India, alongside Ashish Nehra, who managed to survive for 19 deliveries – more than the combined duration of Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja. In the end, India posted a paltry total of 101, after losing 10 wickets in 18.5 overs.