Hasaranga Stars As Sri Lanka Beat India By 7 Wickets, Clinch Series 2-1
SL v IND, 3rd T20I: Wanindu Hasaranga's four-wicket haul set up Sri Lanka's first bilateral series win against India in over 13 years as the home team beat the corona hit visitors by seven wickets.
Chasing a modest target of 82, Sri Lanka never looked in trouble, even though Rahul Chahar struck thrice to keep them at the crease for more time.
Openers Avishka Fernando and Minod Bhanuka scored 23 in the first five overs before Chahar struck to remove both in successive overs. However, yesterday's finisher, Dhananjay De Silva once again got stuck in the crease and made sure Sri Lanka crosses the line with ease.
de Silva and Hasaranga completed the formalities with more than five overs to spare and clinch the T20I series 2-1.
Earlier, India opted to bat first but was out of the game in the first five overs of the match only. Shikhar Dhawan got a golden duck in the first over while the world's second rank T20I bowler, Hasaranga, completely halted the Indian inning in the fourth over. Devdutt Padikkal got run out while Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad were LBW in the same over. Nitish Rana soon followed as India lost all its specialist batters at the score of 36.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar(16) and Kuldeep Yadav(23*) stuck in to drag the team's score to 81 in the first innings.
Brief Score:
India - 81/8 (Kuldeep Yadav - 23*; Wanindu Hasaranga - 4/9)
Sri Lanka in 82/3 in 14.3 overs (Dhananjaya De Silva - 23*, Rahul Chahar - 3/15)