A depleted Indian team, playing with only five batsmen, could not defend a modest target of 133 despite a valiant effort from its players as Sri Lanka kept the three-match series alive with a four-wicket victory in the second T20I at R Premdasa stadium on Wednesday.
With nine players unavailable after Krunal Pandya tested positive, India had no option but to play with six specialist bowlers, including one pacer Navdeep Saini, who wasn’t even given a single over.
Dhananjaya de Silva (40 not out) anchored a tricky Lankan chase after India scored 132 for five. The hosts won with two balls to spare.
Vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/21 in 4 overs) was economical till Chamika Karunartne launched his full-toss for a six. The 12 runs from that (19th) over brought the equation down to 8 runs off final over which was very difficult for debutant Chetan Sakariya to defend.
If one bowler despite figures of 2/30 will be annoyed is Kuldeep, who was brilliant but was let down by his fielders, who dropped a couple of catches. Some poor effort in the outfield also spoilt his figures.
Varun Chakravarthy (1/18 in 4 overs) also was impressive but the total became their undoing.
Earlier, India struggled for momentum against the Sri Lankan spinners on a sluggish track, managing 132 for five.
Debutant Devdutt Padikkal, though, in his brief innings gave a glimpse of a bright future.
The degree of difficulty could be gauged by the fact that only seven boundaries and a six was hit in 20 overs with as many as 42 dot balls consumed by the Indian batsmen.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (40 off 42 balls) aware of a thin-on experience batting line-up had a cautious approach on a track where ball simply refused to come onto the bat and improvisation was the order of the day.