During the fourth match of the Nidahas Trophy between Sri Lanka and India at Colombo, Sri Lanka has scored 152-9 in their allotted quota of 19 overs. Slight rain before the start of the match saw the match being reduced to a 19-over fixture. However, that score was not enough as the visitors chased it down comfortably with 9 balls to spare and 6 wickets in hand.

Citing the uncertain weather in mind, Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain, won the toss and put in the home team in to bat. Lokesh Rahul, who was kept waiting for some time on the bench now, was included in the playing eleven in place of Rishabh Pant. For Sri Lanka, fast bowler Suranga Lakmal was included in the playing eleven in place of their suspended captain, Dinesh Chandimal.

Also read: Mid-innings - Nidahas Trophy (SL vs Ind)

Kusal Mendis, who has been in the scintillating form off late, started well for Sri Lanka. But his progress was affected when his opening partner in Danushka Gunathilaka (17) was dismissed by an excellent Suresh Raina-catch in the third over. By the end of the powerplay, Sri Lanka had scored 53-2. Mendis came into his own after the powerplay as Sri Lanka raced to 94-2 in 10 overs. 

The last of the four wickets hurt Islanders the most as the set batsman in Kusal Mendis had departed for 55 (38). The hosts failed to come out of this bubble in the remaining overs and ended up scoring 152-9. With bowling figures of 4-0-27-4, Shardul Thakur was the pick of the bowlers for India. He was pinpoint with his knuckle delivery which became the highlight of his spell as he picked up his career-best bowling figures. Washington Sundar (4-0-21-2), too, was impressive as he restricted the opposition batsmen and picked up a couple of wickets as well.

Also read: Shardul Thakur picks career-best T20I figures

While coming to chase down the low total of 153 runs, men in blue had a slow start to their innings after the early dismissals of Rohit Sharma (11) and Shikhar Dhawan (8), as they were down to 22-2. But, it was Suresh Raina’s (27) exploits which took the visitors to a good total of 50-2 after the end of 6 overs.

However, Raina fell shortly in the 7th overs followed by KL Rahul’s hit-wicket (fir for an Indian batsman in T2OIs) in the 10th over, reduced the visitors to 85-4 after the first 10 overs. The fifth wicket partnership of 68 runs between Manish Pandey (42*) and Dinesh Karthik (39*) helped Team India to get over the line comprehensively with 9 balls to spare and 6 wickets in hand.

On a pitch when the ball spun and grasped the surface, the men in blue overcame early hiccups to make lightwork of this target. Karthik and Pandey, who seem under the pressure to score every time they walk out to bat, addressed the situation with calm heads and played quality cricket to bring the chase to within touching distance before finishing it off in style. For his brilliant bowling display, Thakur has been adjudged as man of the match.

Brief score:

Sri Lanka: 152/9 (K Mendis: 55; S Thakur 4/27) defeated by India: 153/4 (M Pandey: 42; A Dananjaya 2/19 )