Experimenting is a word that's banned from Indian cricket: MS Dhoni

Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal won the toss for the second time but, surprisingly this time, opted to bowl first once again. The wicket at Ranchi was never going to replicate what we saw at Pune and this turned out to be a dustbowl the pitch was dry, gripped the ball and the slower bowlers dominated the proceedings. India started off really well with Shikhar Dhawan’s blazing knock that saw him get to his maiden half-century in T20 international cricket. But things did slow down when the Sri Lankan spinners came in. Towards the end, a splendid cameo by Hardik Pandya and a momentum changing partnership along with Suresh Raina gave India a strong total in 196 to play with.

The Indian bowling was spot on right from the first ball as Ravichandran Ashwin foxed Dilshan as MS Dhoni stumped him before a blink to get India the first wicket. Spinners were to do the task and when the ball does its bit Dhoni and his slower bowlers are unstoppable and young Jasprit Bumrah with his accurate Yorkers gave India a perfect finish with the ball as they wrapped up the match with Sri Lanka falling 69 runs short.

Indian opener who hit his first fifty in T20I cricket, Man of the Match Shikhar Dhawan said: “I enjoyed batting over here and it’s good that I got my first T20I fifty. I like to play my natural game. Of course I have a lot of support from the support staff and my captain as well. They give a lot of confidence to me and it really helps. There was no plan about getting those number of runs in the first 6 overs, it was about how we felt out in the middle. It was coming off well and I kept going for it.”

Dhoni was the happier man today on his home ground. Giving out his views on the match, MS Dhoni said: “Almost 200 runs were scored and at the same time, there was something for everyone. It was a challenging wicket, but overall it was very good for us. Experimenting is a word that’s banned from Indian cricket. Yes, we are trying different things. Whatever opportunities we are getting, we are trying to get everybody have some time in the middle. It was a strategic move to send Pandya early as he could express himself against the off-spinner. Most of the fielders are above average fielders. The ball is hit too hard, fielding is really important – you can take two good catches, or a run-out can change the face of the game. It helps having fast hands, but it’s important to catch the ball properly. You need to take the chance when it comes to you, you need to grab the ball properly and quickly.”

Sri Lanka will actually have more than a couple of things to ask themselves before the final ODI at Vishakhapattanam Dinesh Chandimal said: “The pitch looks good, credit to India’s batters, they played some really good cricket. As a bowling unit, we tried hard but we ended up giving extra 20-25 runs away. On these kind of tracks, we need to bowl the yorkers and slower balls well. We have the youngsters, they need to learn quickly. Chameera can bowl really fast, he is the future for us. Let’s hope we can do well in the next game.”

Hardik Pandya also played hard-hitting knock today – Twitter Reactions: All-rounder Hardik Pandya plays a superb cameo