India-Sri Lanka

India v Sri Lanka, T20: India win by 3 wkts

India’s Pathan brothers Yusuf and Irfan snatched a 3-wicket win from Sri Lankan jaws in the one-off T20 match.

Chasing 172 runs, Pathan brothers combined after India were reeling at 115 for 7. They added unbeaten 59 runs in just 4.1 overs with Irfan contributing 33 runs and Yusuf adding 22 runs. Apart from their batting excellence, the brothers shone with the ball as well. Yusuf picked two wickets and Irfan took one. And the elder brother was rightly chosen the ‘Man of the Match’.

The fightback by the Baroda brothers overshadowed the bowling performance by the Sri Lankan spinners, especially Malinga Bandara who picked 3 wickets.

India lost their openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir early in the innings. Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina held the Indian fort after Sehwag and Gambhir’s fall. The two southpaws had a 67-run stand for the third wicket before Yuvraj was stunned by Jehan Mubarak. Raina (35), who was looking in a good touch, lofted a Bandara delivery that was taken by a substitute fielder in the deep. Captain MS Dhoni was next to fall. He was completely beaten by Bandara. A delivery pitched on off and middle crashed into the stumps as Dhoni failed to connect his bat to it. Rohit Sharma (4) and debutant Ravindra Jadeja (5) could not contribute much as they fell to Sanath Jayasuriya and Bandara respectively. This sudden collapse brought the two brothers together and rest is history.

Earlier electing to bat first, captain Tillakratne Dilshan led from the front and slammed his maiden Twenty20 half-century to take Sri Lanka’s total to 171 at the loss of 4 wickets. Sri Lanka openers Jayasuriya and Dilshan raised a quickfire 59 runs for the first wicket.

Irfan compensated well for dropping a sitter off T20 debutant Zaheer Khan, after he dismissed the threatening Jayasuriya for 33 runs. Equally contributed the lanky Ishant Sharma, who took a high single-handed catch at mid-on.

Older brother Yusuf Pathan dismissed Jehan Mubarak and Chamara Kapugedera in quick succession. While he took a sharp return catch to remove Mubarak, Kapugedera was taken by Sehwag at mid-wicket after the ball took a top edge of his bat.

Dilshan held the other end but he fell soon after raising his half-century. He made 61 runs with the help of seven 4s and one six before Raina took a sensational backward running catch off Ishant Sharma.

This ends a highly successful tour of Sri Lanka for the Indian team and they now next go to New Zealand for a test tour.

Tags: India, sri lanka