If one wishes to see high-quality strokeplay throughout the match in a T20 game, then he/she has to watch the 2nd T20I between India and Sri Lanka again and again. It was that kind of a surface where the batsmen simply enjoyed wagging their bat around and the poor bowlers had to bear the assault. In such a high-voltage contest, India, riding on the back of a 119 from Rohit Sharma and 89 from KL Rahul, went on to pile the joint second-highest T20I total (260). Sri Lanka gave a good fight, but a collapse ensured that they fell well short of the target as they lost the match by 88 runs.
To begin with, it was the Indian opening pair of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, who got their team off to a flying start as they added 165 runs in just 12.4 overs. The Sri Lankan bowlers actually started well, giving away just 26 runs in the first 4 overs, but after that, they were smashed all around the park for the next 16 overs.
Some of the shots that the Indian openers played were simply unbelievable – the one from KL Rahul over long-off and then a couple from Rohit Sharma over the extra-cover region – and it was a treat to watch them bat. Both of them timed the ball so well that their shots went all the way for sixes. Yes, the ground was small, but then they smacked them into the second and third tier.
Rohit, especially, was unstoppable. Right from the word go, he just went after the Sri Lankan bowlers and targeted a boundary or a six off almost every other ball. He reached his fifty in 23 balls and if that was not quick, he converted it into a hundred in the next 12 balls. In doing so, Rohit equalled David Miller’s record of scoring the fastest T20I century. He also became the first Indian to score two T20I centuries. His knock of 119 comprised of 12 fours and 10 sixes – geez, that’s 108 runs in boundaries.
After the Indian skipper got out, Rahul, who was silent for a while, took over and continued the assault. MS Dhoni gave him good company and the two took India’s score past 200 by adding 78 runs for the second wicket. Rahul also had a chance to rack up his second T20I hundred, but he fell just 11 runs short of it. It was a fantastic one-handed diving catch taken by Niroshan Dickwella to get rid of the batsman.
Once Rahul was dismissed, India lost a few wickets in a jiffy and missed out on an opportunity to post the biggest total in a T20I. But they still ended up getting 260 runs on the board, which anyhow was a colossal total.
It was a daunting target ahead of the Sri Lankans and they needed their batsmen to click to get somewhere close to India’s total. One must say that they gave India a tough fight and till 13 overs, were very much in the game. Leading from the front was Kusal Perera, who kept whacking the Indian spinners out of the park. It was just the kind of innings that Sri Lanka needed to keep the required run-rate under check.
While Kusal did the bulk of the damage, Upul Tharanga played a good supporting role and scored a 29-ball 47. The two left-handers stitched a fine partnership of 109 runs and kept the hopes alive of plausibly chasing down the target. But they needed to keep going as they still needed another 119 runs to win off the last 7 overs.
Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, once the partnership was broken, their batting unit yet again collapsed. And once again, it was the Indian spin-duo, who triggered the collapse. First, it was Kuldeep Yadav, who picked up three wickets, including that of the dangerous Kusal Perera (77), in his last over. This was followed by another 3-wicket over from Yuzvendra Chahal, who finished with a 4-for. It was an excellent comeback by the Indian spinners after being hammered in their first three overs. As a result of this, the Sri Lankan team, who were 145 for 1 at one stage, were bowled out for 172.
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India seal the series with a massive win | India vs Sri Lanka | 2nd T20I | Dec 22 - 20170001
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