Update: India win by 7 wickets! Sri Lanka have failed to register a single victory in the series. Pandey hits the winning runs — a boundary over covers — and also completes his fifty. Preview: India would aim to cap off their super successful Sri Lanka tour with another ruthless victory in the one-off T20 International on Wednesday at Colombo. Any other result than India’s resounding win looks highly unlikely tomorrow, considering the visitors’ rampaging run in the preceding Test and ODI series, where they whitewashed the hosts 3-0 and 5-0 respectively. The game provides India an opportunity to fine-tune team combination ahead of the upcoming T20 home series against Australia and New Zealand. In total, India would play nine T20 Internationals this home season and all contests will be a three-match series. India are on an experimentation drive ahead of the 2019 50-over World Cup and one name they could have tried here is Rishabh Pant, who was not named in the squad. It is all the more surprising since the selectors had an opportunity to send him for this stand-alone game when Shikhar Dhawan returned home to tend to his ailing mother this past weekend, leaving Ajinkya Rahane to open the innings in the fifth ODI. Pant has previously featured in two T20Is against England and West Indies, but was kept out of this tour on account of his poor run for India-A in South Africa, as stated by chief selector MSK Prasad after the team selection. [caption id=“attachment_4015647” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
File image of India captain Virat Kohli and Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga. AP[/caption] In the lone T20 against West Indies at Jamaica, Virat Kohli had opened the innings with Dhawan with Pant slotting in at no.3. As such, their dual absence will necessitate atleast a couple changes from the Indian skipper. Rohit Sharma slots back in automatically, for he didn’t travel to the Caribbean earlier whilst KL Rahul and Manish Pandey will be expected to bring up the middle order. Kedar Jadhav scored a much needed half-century in the final ODI, and he could be afforded another chance to prove his credentials as India prepare for a long limited-overs’ schedule at home. Hardik Pandya was rested for that fifth match on Sunday, and he too is expected to return to the playing eleven. Pandya hadn’t featured in India’s last T20I against the West Indies, with Kohli opting for five full-time bowlers back in July. His return to the playing eleven could allow for a bowling combination similar to the ODIs, with four full-time options to choose from. Jasprit Bumrah is a shoe-in of course, whilst it remains to be seen if Shardul Thakur will get another go after proving expensive in the last match at Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s expense. Kohli does like to field leg-spinners in the shortest format, and he played both Yuzvendra Chahal and Amit Mishra against England at both Nagpur and Bengaluru. He is expected to repeat this trick with Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav this time around. Even so, there were no sure hints coming forth as the Indian team enjoyed an additional off day ahead of the game and did not practice. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka have made a few changes to their original T20 squad after suffering the 5-0 whitewash. Leg spinner Jeffrey Vandersay and seam-bowling all-rounder Dasun Shanaka are prominent additions. Pacer Suranga Lakmal makes a comeback after injury, as he had been ruled out ahead of the second Test in August. Mystery spinner Akila Dananjay has also been added to the squad. Vandersay had made an impression for Sri Lanka in the World T20 last year, but suffered from injury issues since and hasn’t been a regular feature of the side. Surprisingly, left-arm leg spinner Lakshan Sandakan has been left out of the squad. Pacers Vishwa Fernando and Dushmantha Chameera have also been left out after unimpressive showings in the recently concluded ODI series. Lasith Malinga has been picked again, however. The Lankan team management had talked about resting Kusal Mendis as he was fatigued, and he has been duly left out. The spotlight will be on skipper Upul Tharanga though. This will be his first T20 match in-charge after Angelo Mathews gave up captaincy post the loss to Zimbabwe prior to the Indian tour. Tharanga was suspended during this ODI series due to poor run-rate, but refused to step down after the ODI defeat. Instead, he has taken a six-month sabbatical from Test cricket and was omitted from Lanka’s preliminary squad announced on Monday for the Pakistan series. This is being as a sign that he wants to concentrate on the limited-overs’ formats and a bid to overturn Sri Lanka’s fortunes in ODIs and T20s at least. As per the ICC rankings, the gap between the two sides is smaller (ranked no.5 and 8) for once, and the task is cut out for Tharanga to showcase what he can do in this one-off game. With inputs from PTI
Highlights, India vs Sri Lanka, Full Cricket Score, T20I in Colombo: Visitors complete 9-0 annihilation of hosts
India win by 7 wickets! Sri Lanka have failed to register a single victory in the series. Pandey hits the winning runs — a boundary over covers — and also completes his fifty.
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Most losses in T20Is at a venue for teams:
14 – Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club
12 – Sri Lanka at Colombo (RPS)*
12 – Bangladesh at Dhaka
Oh, that stumping was a MSD special!
Outplayed Sri Lanka in all matches in all departments
And that’s that… the T20 has also gone as per script. Sri Lanka made a brave start, then stuttered and finished with a par score. India chased it with consummate ease. Virat Kohli is born to play limited-overs’ cricket, isn’t he?
The tour has come to an end, finally, with India making a complete sweep across formats. Their next opponents are Australia at home and rest assured that will be a competitive series.
After 19 overs,India 169/3 ( Manish Pandey 47 , MS Dhoni (W) 0)
Kohli is disappointed that he couldn’t finish the game but he his innings has helped India get closer to the victory. Now the question remains: can Pandey get to his fifty? Nine runs off the over. 2 runs needed off the final over.
Highest scores by captains while chasing in T20Is:
90 – Steve Smith v England, Cardiff, 2015
88 – Chris Gayle v Australia, The Oval, 2009
82 – Virat Kohli v Sri Lanka, Colombo (RPS), 2017*
After 18 overs,India 160/2 ( Virat Kohli (C) 82 , Manish Pandey 38)
Done and dusted. It is a matter of time now. Kohli keeps improving game by game. But it is also important to appreciate Pandey’s supporting knock from the other end. 12 runs off the over.
Most runs while chasing in T20Is:
1007* (and counting) – Virat Kohli
1006 – Brendon McCullum
892 – David Warner
After 17 overs,India 148/2 ( Virat Kohli (C) 74 , Manish Pandey 35)
Six singles. Not trying to do anything fancy, are India? They know they have the match in control. I am afraid that Sri Lanka’s chance to win this match has effectively come to an end. 22 off 18 balls.
After 16 overs,India 142/2 ( Virat Kohli (C) 71 , Manish Pandey 32)
38 off 30 balls. Malinga is back. A Malinga in his prime had it in him to still turn around this match. But with pace reduced, can he produce something magical? Four runs come off the first four balls. Kohli almost cleans up the umpire on the fifth ball. Palliyaguruge will give a thought to wearing helmet in the next match. Nine runs off the over.
After 15 overs,India 133/2 ( Virat Kohli (C) 63 , Manish Pandey 31)
Dananjaya is back into the attack. India quite relaxed now. Don’t think they will take any risks and they don’t. Happy to rotate the strike and keep it simple. Unless Sri Lanka strike twice or thrice quickly, this match is heading only one way: An Indian win.
After 14 overs,India 128/2 ( Virat Kohli (C) 60 , Manish Pandey 29)
The match is slipping out of Sri Lanka’s hands. India dealing in singles and doubles now. Kohli is also battling in the humidity but looks good enough to continue. 10 off the over. 43 runs needed off 36 balls.
After 13 overs,India 118/2 ( Virat Kohli (C) 57 , Manish Pandey 25)
Twos are made for Kohli, isn’t it? He just loves to challenge himself and his non striker. Two braces off the first two deliveries. Also brings up the fifty off the second ball. Follows it up with a boundary. And again that brace. 12 runs come off the over.
Players to score fifty-plus runs in their 50th T20I match:
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Eoin Morgan
Shahid Afridi
VIRAT KOHLI*
Most 50-plus scores in T20 cricket while chasing:
44 – Chris Gayle
34 – David Warner
31 – Gautam Gambhir
26 – Brendon McCullum
25 – VIRAT KOHLI*
Most consecutive fifty-plus scores against a team in T20Is:
4 by Virat Kohli v Australia
4 by Virat Kohli v Sri Lanka
After 12 overs,India 106/2 ( Virat Kohli (C) 46 , Manish Pandey 25)
Just the over India would have wanted. It started with a glorious jab. Pandey too joined the party and smacked a six and four off consecutive balls. Sri Lanka need something special to break this stand. Can they produce it? The 100-run mark comes up for India and the 50-run stand too.
After 11 overs,India 89/2 ( Virat Kohli (C) 40 , Manish Pandey 14)
Kohli uses his feet and flicks it to long on. Thisara makes a good save and stops a boundary. Kohli pushes the second ball to cover and Pandey does the same to long on. Three more singles follow. Tidy over.