Match Report
Sri Lanka held nerves to win second T20I to level the series, Twitter Reacts
By Aditya Pratap - Jul 28, 2021 11:42 pm
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The second T20I between Sri Lanka and India got underway after all the fuzz that surrounded the game after Krunal Pandya was found positive for Covid-19. The game moved a day ahead but took place without any further issues.

Chetan Sakariya, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal and Nitish Rana made their T20I debuts

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl first. Shikhar Dhawan, though, mentioned he was looking to bat first. Krunal Pandya came in close contact with eight other players which ruled them all out of the remaining two games. Hence, India were forced to make plenty of changes.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Nitish Rana and Chetan Sakariya made their T20I debuts as India named five specialist batsmen and six bowlers in their playing XI. Sri Lanka made two changes to win this do-or-die game.

Also Read: Krunal Pandya tested positive for Covid-19, second T20I postponed

Dhawan and Gaikwad started the innings at a brisk pace and scored 49 runs in the first seven overs. The latter got out after scoring 21 runs on debut. Dhawan dug deep and scored 40 runs in 42 balls while Padikkal scored confident-looking 29 runs. India, then, lost wickets in a cluster. They huffed and puffed to 132/5 in 20 overs on a slow pitch.

Sri Lankan spinners bowled really well to restrict India to a chasable total.

The hosts didn’t enjoy a good start as their batsmen failed to stitch a partnership. They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and couldn’t go for the winning punch. Minod Bhanuka did bat for a while but got out after scoring 36 runs.

Also Read: Krunal Pandya and eight close-contacted players to miss remaining T20Is

Indian spinners were in fine form and didn’t allow Sri Lanka to run away with the game. Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Chahar took one wicket each while Kuldeep Yadav bagged two. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also bowled well and registered 1/21 in his four overs.

However, Dhananjaya de Silva and Chamika Karunaratne held their nerves when India had the upper hand in the game. De Silva played an anchor’s innings of 40 runs while Chamika smashed a stunning six in the penultimate over as Sri Lanka won the game by four wickets.

See how Twitter reacted to this game;