Sri Lanka 133 for 6 (De Silva 40*, Bhanuka 36, Yadav 2-30) beat India 132 for 5 (Dhawan 40, Padikkal 29, Dhananjay 2-29) by four wickets
India, who had anyway brought a replacement team to Sri Lanka, were further severely hampered by the isolation of their nine players. They had Bhuvneshwar Kumar - a bowler who bats a bit - as high as No. 6, as he had only five recognized batsmen available. And yet, they defended around 132, their spinners - Rahul Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy - chasing Sri Lanka in the middle overs.
Sri Lanka eventually stumbled over the line to register their first T20 win in six matches, with Dhananjaya de Silva handling the innings with an unbeaten 40 off 34 balls. He scored the winning run off just two balls, and was his last serious batting pairing with Sri Lanka.
A thigh-high full toss match turns Sri Lanka's path
When a storm hit the ground at the end of the 18th over of Sri Lanka's innings, the hosts still needed 20 to win and were three runs behind the DLS par score. He desperately needed a boundary but could only manage one run in the last three overs. The third ball of the 19th over - bowled by Kumar - was a hit-me ball though. India were already battling dew, but a few minutes of rain had made the outfield even smoother, and the ball became difficult to catch. Chamika Karunaratne threw a full-toss into the stands just beyond wide long-on, reducing the equation to 12 off 9 balls, and Sri Lanka needed to hit another boundary until the target was reached.
India swing themselves back in the game
Although Sri Lanka did not move at the required pace early on, the period in the middle overs in which various batsmen lobbed against the spinners put India in serious contention to defend their total. Not a single boundary was hit in 27 balls between the ninth and 14th over. Sri Lanka in particular struggled with Chakraborty's variety - the bowler returned 1 for 18 in his four overs. Yadav dismissed Dasun Shanaka and Minod Bhanuka during this boundaryless stretch. He took 2 wickets for 30 of his four.
De Silva produced a slow burn innings
Not known to be a natural hitter, de Silva would reveal after the match that the role assigned to him by the coaching staff was to ensure that he stayed down from one end and batted for as long as possible. He hit only one six (off Kuldeep) and a four in his innings, but scored six two runs, and played only eight dot balls.
Sri Lanka dodge their bowlers in the opening overs
Although it is India that were forced to field an XI with more bowlers than their liking, Sri Lanka were in favor of showing their bowling depth right out of the gate. Captain Shanaka had eight different bowlers to deliver the first nine overs - Dushmantha Chamira, Karunaratne, Akila Dhananjaya, Isuru Udana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Shanaka, Ramesh Mendis and de Silva all came to the bowling crease.
Its purpose was clearly to prevent India's batsmen from freezing. Although the move did not yield many wickets, with only Ruturaj Gaekwad falling during this period, Sri Lanka were able to keep a lid on the scoring. India scored only 54 runs in those nine overs. Shikhar Dhawan was particularly humble, as he scored 28 off his first 32 balls. When he was eventually dismissed in the 13th over, his strike rate had improved only marginally - he had soaked 42 balls for his 40.
A small India batting lineup fails to explode to death
With Suryakumar Yadav, Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey and Ishan Kishan all unavailable, India had only five recognized batsmen to choose from. So although they lost only two wickets at the end of the 15th over, the lack of firepower through the middle was a major concern (it could also be why Dhawan and Co. batted so conservatively early). With Hasranga and Chamira bowling well on the slow surface, India scored only 38 runs in the last 30 balls. His last boundary came in the 16th over from Devdutt Padikkal. Padikkal was out on the next ball. Batting at No. 6, Kumar, who has never been an all-rounder, faced 11 balls in which he scored 13 runs.