Sri Lanka vs India 2021, 2nd T20I – Who Said What

While fans thought that 2^nd T20I would not be able to see the light of the day in all its likeliness due to the COVID-19 scare in the Indian camp, the men in blue walked up with their depleted side. However, Sri Lanka won the match by four wickets and leveled the series 1-1. Winning the toss, the hosts decided to take the field with bowling action first and wrapped up the men in blue on merely 132 runs.

Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan took the responsibilities with the bat as he brought 40 (42) runs on the table but was seen quite slow in his approach. Devdutt Padikkal added good 29 runs from his end but lacked total support from the lower order. While Dushmantha Chameera bowled tight spells, Akila Dananjaya picked two wickets for Lanka.

Dhananjaya de Silva shines for Sri Lanka

Even the home side didn’t get off to a great start but things settled for them as there wasn’t much to chase. Minod Bhanuk adding 36 runs and Dhananjaya de Silva adding a subtle 40* from his end made the job smooth for the Lankans and helped them get over the line. De Silva was eventually declared as the player of the match for helping the home side level the series. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav picked two wickets for India where Dhawan’s deputy Bhuvneshwar Kumar remained the most economical one for visitors.

Player of the match, Dhananjaya de Silva match said:

We were looking for this win. I am happy to contribute to a win for SL. I always thought and knew it was about one big over. I decided to bat till the end. We held our nerves today. It is always tough against India.

Losing Skipper, Shikhar Dhawan said:

The surface turned and was a stopping a bit. We knew we were one batter short. We knew we had to construct our innings smartly. We were 10-15 runs short. That would have made the difference. I am proud of the boys. Never say die attitude is amazing. Hats off to the boys for taking it into the last over.

Winning skipper, Dasun Shanaka said:

 I thought if we can keep them under a low score, we can chase it. Strategy was to go hard in the first six overs. Then I went into the middle but couldn’t do much. But DDS and Hasaranga did well in the middle overs. When it comes to international cricket, different boys are performing. I should thank BCCI and SLC to allow us to showcase our talent during these tough tough times.