India v Sri Lanka 2nd T20I – 5 Talking Points

The Indian fans erupted in joy as India got back to winning ways after their dismal show in the first T20I at Pune. There were a lot of talks about the form of Indian batsmen and Lanka’s impressive young bowling brigade, and all of that got addressed after the second game. Too early to say anything as the series is now levelled at 1-1, but India’s all-round good show in all three departments is certainly a plus point for the hosts ahead of the World T20 2016.

Indian openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma gave India a flying start as the duo showed no mercy on the young Sri Lankan attack. Dhawan, in particular, looked in a different mode altogether as he hit boundaries to all parts of the ground. He and Rohit put on 75 for the first wicket before the southpaw was dismissed for 51 (25). Rahane couldn’t do much but the game turned on when Hardik Pandya (27 off 12 balls) and Suresh Raina (30 off 19 balls) put on a display of phenomenal hitting. India posted 196/6 in 20 overs.

The Sri Lankan chase never looked settled as they lost Dilshan on the first delivery of the match. Nehra then removed Prasanna and Gunathilaka in quick succession to keep Sri Lanka reeling at 16/3. The experienced duo of Chamara Kapugedara (32) and Chandimal (31) showed some resistance but that wasn’t enough for the Lankans as they could manage only 127/9 in their stipulated 20 overs.

1. Rohit-Dhawan shine, Rajitha fails to follow-up:

The Indian batting lineup collapsed in the first T20 at Pune they had come into the series with their top order being in supreme form. The young bowling attack of Sri Lanka impressed in the first match. But the tables turned here as Dhawan (51) and Rohit (43) continued from where they left in Australia. While Rohit cleared his intentions by hitting the first ball of the match for a four, Dhawan hit two sixes in two consecutive overs over deep square-leg. India mustered runs at over 11 runs per over in the powerplay. Dhawan brought up his half century in just 24 balls. On the other hand, Sri Lankan bowling looked bleak. Kasun Rajitha, who troubled all Indian batsmen and returned with figures of 3/29 at Pune, conceded 45 in his four overs today. Going by this result, one can try to erase the memories of Pune as a rare failure and expect Indian openers to go all guns blazing in the final T20I.

2. Pandya’s promotion and Pandya-Raina firepower:

Not many expected Hardik Pandya to be promoted ahead of Dhoni and Yuvraj. But it was the all-rounder who joined Suresh Raina at the crease when the scorecard read 127/3 in 14.2 overs. Pandya and Raina bludgeoned the Lankan bowling attack to propel India’s score close to 200. Two consecutive sixes in Senanayake’s over by Pandya and four boundaries in the 18th over by Raina off the bowling of Chameera were the highlight of their 59-run stand that came off 26 balls. Well, it seems India has found another guy in Hardik Pandya who can go right after the bowling from ball one in the slog overs. Plenty of positives to take from the game and Pandya is certainly one of them.

3. Perera’s hat-trick:

Perhaps the only saving grace for Sri Lankan bowling in the run-fest at Ranchi was Thisara Perera’s hat-trick in the penultimate over. Just when Raina and Pandya looked dangerous to take India to a target close to 210, Perera bowled as absolutely phenomenal over giving just 7 runs and picking up 3 wickets. He dismissed Pandya, Raina and Yuvraj to complete his maiden T20I hat-trick. Although Perera’s first two yielded 26 runs, his last over kept India’s total below 200. This was just the 4th hat-trick in T20Is, after Brett Lee, Jacob Oram and Tim Southee.

4. Dhoni’s lightning fast glove work:

MS Dhoni’s wicketkeeping is never talked about much, but this man is certainly the best keeper in the modern day cricket. Having shown glimpses of his excellent glove work in Australia earlier this year, Dhoni effected two lightning quick stumpings in this match. In the very first over, Dhoni stumped Dilshan in a flash. Before Dilshan could even realise what had actually perspired, the bails were off and a confident Dhoni appealed and celebrated in joy. In the 12th over, right after the fall of Chamara Kapugedara, Jadeja found just enough turn to beat the outside edge of Dinesh Chandimal. Chandimal reached out and pushed outside off and lost balance. The back foot was in the air when Dhoni whipped the bails off in a flash; well faster than flash in fact!

Twitter also went crazy praising Dhoni – Twitter Reactions: MS Dhoni effects multiple stumpings, Twitter loves it

5. Spin does the trick again:

Ashish Nehra provided the early breakthroughs but yet again it was spin that helped India choke the opposition. Not only did the spinners, Jadeja and Ashwin, picked wickets at regular intervals but also didn’t give any freedom to the batsmen to score freely. Ravi Ashwin got rid of Dilshan in the first over of the match and then scalped two wickets in his final over. Jadeja got the key wickets of the two settled batsmen, Kapugedara and Chandimal, on two consecutive deliveries. While Ashwin conceded just 14 runs in his four overs, Jadeja gave away 24 runs. Yuvraj Singh was economical too as he conceded 19 in his spell of three overs.

What did Dhoni, Dhawan and Chandimal say after the match? – Experimenting is a word that’s banned from Indian cricket: MS Dhoni