Nidahas Trophy 2018, Match 4, SL vs IND, Review: Thakur and Pandey help India trump the hosts
The visitors were clinical on the day as they put one step closer to the final
India has beaten Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the first game of the second leg of the ongoing Nidahas Trophy in the island nation. They were clinical in their plans on the day by restricting the hosts to a below-par total and then gunned it down courtesy a calm knock from Manish Pandey and Dinesh Karthik. Though it was Shardul Thakur who did the damage with a four-wicket haul with the ballin the first innings. However, Sri Lanka find themselves in trouble now and will have to beat Bangladesh in their next game to qualify for the final.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first as the game started almost 80 minutes later due to the rain. While India benched Rishabh Pant for KL Rahul, Sri Lanka made one forced change with their regular skipper Dinesh Chandimal suspended bringing in Suranga Lakmal. The match was reduced to 19-overs per side to make up for the time lost due to rain.
Mendis slams bowlers
The openers of Sri Lanka, Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka, started off in grand style as they scored 15 runs off the very first over. Though the former was sent back by Shardul Thakur courtesy a stunning catch from Suresh Raina which provided India with an early breakthrough. The hero of the last two games Kusal Perera tried to be too cheeky early in his innings and paid the price for the same as Washinton Sundar castled him in the very next over. However, Mendis was looking in the mood and he took the liking to the Indian bowlers.
He made sure that Sri Lanka didn’t lose the momentum along with Upul Tharanga who played second fiddle to him. Thakur though disturbed the stumps of the latter who struggled during his stay in the middle scoring 22 off 24 deliveries. Meanwhile, Mendis completed his third half-century from last five T20Is off 30 deliveries. But when he needed to accelerate in the death overs, Yuzvendra Chahal got better of him on 55. Prior to that, they had also lost the skipper Thisara Perera and Jeevan Mendis which pegged them back significantly.
The hosts kept on losing wickets courtesy some brilliant death overs bowling from the Men in Bue and eventually posted 152 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their stipulated 19 overs. Thakur was the pick of the bowlers for India who returned with exceptional figures of 4/27. Sundar continued to be economical as he scalped a couple conceding only 21 runs even as the other three bowlers picked a wicket each apart from Suresh Raina who rolled his arm over.
What happened in the chase?
The Men in Blue got off to the worst possible start as their openers were back in the hut by the third over of the innings. Rohit Sharma still couldn’t find his mojo back on the tour and was snaffled by Akila Dananjaya as Shikhar Dhawan’s juggernaut was stopped by the same bowler. However, the duo of KL Rahul and Suresh Raina calmed the nerves and added 40 runs for the third wicket. Raina was aggressive of the two as he smashed 27 off just 15 deliveries before throwing his wicket away to Nuwan Pradeep.
Rahul then lost his wicket in a dramatic fashion as he disturbed his stumps on his own while playing a backfoot shot off Jeevan Mendis in the 10th over which kept Sri Lanka in the game. However, it was Manish Pandey who was unfazed with all the happenings at the other end. He took calculative riskes which paid off perfectly for him and accumulated runs whenever the pressure was increasing on them. He was nicely supported by Dinesh Karthik who brought his experience to the fore when it was most needed.
The duo finished the game fittingly for India in the penultimate over of the innings as they won the game by 6 wickerts in the end. The Men in Blue also reached the top of the points table with their second consecutive victory in the series and are the favourites to qualify for the final now. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, tried their best to restrict the visitors but the score they posted was below-par on a decent wicket to bat on. They now face a must-win encounter against Bangladesh which should be a mouth-watering prospect.
India would love to seal their position in the title clash by defeating Bangladesh in their next match which will be played on Wednesday.
Brief Scores
Sri Lanka 152/9 after 19 overs (K Mendis 55; S Thakur 4/27, W Sundar 2/21)
India 153/4 after 17.3 overs (M Pandey 42*, D Karthik 39*; A Dhananjaya 2/19
Result: India won by 6 wickets
Man of the Match: Shardul Thakur
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