All-round domination helps India seal series 2-0
A strong opening partnership, a lower-order cameo, and fiery fast bowling helped India romp home despite a collapse
A strong opening partnership, a lower-order cameo, and fiery fast bowling helped India romp home despite a collapse
Scorer: @Thilak_Rama | Commentator: @saurabh_42
10.40 pm: Right, that brings us to the end of our coverage for this T20I series. Australia will be here soon, for those who want to watch the Indian team. And before that, there's always cricket going on somewhere in the world, that's the beauty of our game. On behalf of Varun and Thilak, this is Saurabh saying goodbye for now.
Virat Kohli: Good start to this year. We have started on the right track, chasing one game and setting one game. Two very clinical performances, so I'm very happy. Just the confidence of getting that 200 mark every now and then will put us in a good stead. That middle collapse was challenging and what Manish and Shardul did was very good. We require more of this in the coming games as well, to see who are the guys putting their hands up when the senior guys don't get runs. Batting first and setting totals... today I thought 180 and we got 200. In Mumbai we thought 200 and we got 230. We just want to continue that, we don't want to be a team that is tentative batting first. How confident we are batting second, we want to be like that batting first as well. All three openers are pretty strong players, and it's great to have players playing well in the team. It gives you options. But I think people need to stop pitting players against each other. It's all about a team game. I don't endorse this idea of putting people in the team against each other.
Navdeep Saini is the Man of the Series. "When I was playing only with the red ball, I used to find it very different to bowl with the white ball, but I'm feeling better with it now. And my bowling partners also help me with suggestions and ideas on what to do. Speed is natural to me. But now I'm paying attention to my diet, eating and sleeping, training. You need that to be able to play for India. I've played with the red ball for the last four-five years only. Before that I was playing with tennis balls."
Shardul Thakur is the Man of the Match: "I believe I have the ability (to bat) and recently I've been practising well. The idea is that if I can contribute runs at No.8 it'll be good for the team. I can bowl good outswingers, so initially the idea is to swing the ball. If you swing the ball in any conditions, you can get wickets. I've spent quite a while with the team, right from the first time I broke into it in 2016. Whenever I'm in the team I get a very homely feeling, I don't feel left out. That is the strength of the team. We are all united."
Lasith Malinga: We bowled okay for these kind of conditions in the first 15-16 overs, and after that they got away. Then our top order, we lost four batsmen. But Angelo and Dhananjaya showed how to bat in these conditions. We need to learn how to handle situations. We didn't have much time to change our squad but this is the talent we have in Sri Lanka so we have to back them. Everyone in world cricket is using wristspinners because they are wicket-taking options and we have Sandakan and Hasaranga.
10.29 pm: Presentations time.
sujit: "In the last five years, India has made scores of 200+ in T20I a staggering 13 times. The next closest is SA with 6. If the current attitude of the Indian team continue we may yet see a doubling of that number in the next two years!"
Navjot S Bhatia: "In both the matches .. it was tough to chose the MoM. That goes for MoS choice too. Shows how well India has played as a team KL Rahul: MoM Navdeep Saini : MoS"
Pratik: "Man of the match for Thakur? For his superlative knock of 22 off 8 balls at the end and excellent bowling figures too" - I would think so.
Manish Pandey: One thing was always in the back of my head that down the line somewhere I'll get a game and I was ready for it. That's what the coaches told me also. Got my chance today, had a good partnership with Shardul. Batting well in the domestic season and the nets, so I knew I had to be ready when I got my chances. I had to deliver. You keep working on yourself. There are situations in the match that make you play such shots (on the legside).
10.10 pm: Comprehensive win by India, by 78 runs. They were attacking with the bat and all over Sri Lanka with the ball. The visitors' only bright spot came when Mathews and Dhananjaya were batting together. Either side of that, it was a bit of a shambles. India have thoroughly outplayed Sri Lanka in the series.
SL Malinga c Kohli b Saini 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Viral Bulsara: "If we add Dinesh Karthik all our keeper/extra batsman get resolved. "
DM de Silva c Bumrah b Saini 57 (36b 8x4 1x6) SR: 158.33
Adarsh: "Asking Rahul taking on gloves for the world cup is like a Dejavu...A decade ago another Famous Rahul had taken on the gloves to accommodate an extra batsmen in the team. Not a big difference that had to the outcome... but that was a different team, different era, different Rahul..."
PADLR Sandakan st †Samson b Washington Sundar 1 (2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 50.00
The things we learned after Virat Kohli and his men beat Sri Lanka 2-0 in the recently concluded T20I series
Both openers scored 34-ball half-centuries in Pune, intensifying their heated top-order tussle
He's older, slower, and less explosive than he once was, but his T20I comeback showed what he still offers
A strong opening partnership, a lower-order cameo, and fiery fast bowling helped India romp home despite a collapse
The wristspinner endured a tough run last year, but he has come back with better tactics