Sri Lanka set India a target of 207 runs in the second T20I, which India could only manage to reach 190/8 in 20 overs, resulting in a loss for the team.
Winning the toss, India decided to bowl first as the skipper, Pandya thought that the dew could be in their favor. But he wasn’t aware of the stats that teams batting first have a better record in Pune.
In the first innings, Sri Lanka hammered India properly, scored 206 runs, losing 6 wickets in 20 overs. Kushal Mendis and Dasun Shanaka both scored half-centuries for the team. Kushal made 52 off 31 balls, but Shanaka remained unbeaten on 56 runs off 22 balls.
Although Sri Lanka’s end-of-innings run spree might have given India’s top order some hope, they were quickly disabused of that notion.
India started badly, with top orders Ishan Kishan, Gill, Rahul, and Hardik Pandya putting up only 39 runs in the first powerplay. The Sri Lankan fast bowlers came out with a lot of energy and kept the Indian batters on their toes.
Despite a top-order collapse, Axar Patel (65) and Suryakumar Yadav (51) managed to stitch together a 91-run partnership off of just 40 balls. However, those heroic efforts were not enough to take India over the line.
Both Suryakumar Yadav and Axar Patel tried to create momentum and after their departures, wickets started falling at regular intervals. In the end, India fell short of the target by 16 runs.
As per our experts’ opinions, “India made some basic errors which they shouldn’t do at this level. They lost the moment when in the second over Arshdip did three consecutive no-balls. In modern-day cricket, no ball is a crime.”
Dasun Shanaka, the player of the match addressed, “We could’ve done well in the middle part. The game was set by the openers. Need to play well in the middle order to allow finishers to finish well. It’s not the dew factor, it’s the skill of Indian batters. They took the game away from us but still, we managed to hold our nerve.”