After having once again struggled to take wickets in the first powerplay, owing to some dropped catches, the Indian team finally got their first breakthrough in the 14th over of the innings owing to the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Minod Bhanuka had enjoyed his fair share of luck during the initial stage of innings as he was dropped by Manish Pandey at the second slip off the bowling of Deepak Chahar in the second over of the game.
Bhanuka had been completely squared up by Chahar but Pandey made the mistake of going with just one hand to take the low catch at second slip. However, his fortunes ran out in the 14th over when he chipped a full-toss from Yuzvendra Chahal straight to the short mid-wicket fielder, Manish Pandey, who did not make any mistake this time around.
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If the first wicket was pure luck for Yuzvendra Chahal, the second wicket was nothing but a display of pure skill from the bowler. It was a perfect leg-spinner’s dismissal where Chahal bowled a top-spinner to entice Bhanuka Rajapaksa forward, only to get a thing outside the edge of his bat.
Twin strikes from @yuzi_chahal! 👏 👏
Sri Lanka 77/2 after 13.3 overs as Minod Bhanuka & Bhanuka Rajapaksa depart. #SLvIND #TeamIndia
Follow the match 👉 https://t.co/HHeGcqGQXM pic.twitter.com/i32dlX5bqA
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 20, 2021
Ishan Kishan did the rest by taking a fine catch as Sri Lanka stumbled from being 0/77 to 2/77 in a matter of a couple of deliveries.
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Eventually, Sri Lanka had lost two more wickets in the form of opener Avishka Fernando, who in an attempt to pull a not so short delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, ended up top-edging and Krunal Pandya took a sharp backward running catch at mid-on, and Dhananjaya de Silva, who ended up chopping a knuckleball from Deepak Chahar to Dhawan at mid-off.
Here is the video of dismissals:
Yuzi Chahal spun a web around the Lankans, claims 2 wickets in 2 consecutive balls! 🔥
Tune into Sony Six (ENG), Sony Ten 1 (ENG), Sony Ten 3 (HIN), Sony Ten 4 (TAM, TEL) & SonyLIV now! 📺#SLvINDOnlyOnSonyTen #HungerToWin #Chahal pic.twitter.com/thXqxfZElL
— Sony Sports Network (@SonySportsNetwk) July 20, 2021
