Exposing India’s young batter’s inability to tackle spin, Sri Lanka conjured up a seven-wicket victory in the deciding third T20I to hand the fancied Asian neighbours a 2-1 series defeat on Thursday.
Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga (4/9) made the Indians dance to his tunes on his 24th birthday, playing a crucial role in restricting them to a paltry 81 for eight, which is their lowest against the Lankans.
The match was reduced to a no-contest after India’s disappointing batting display as off-spinner Akila Danajaya too troubled the batsmen though he did not take any wicket.
The Covid-19 related isolation of nine players affected the team balance adversely with the rookie Indian batsmen looked miserable with the ball not coming on to the bat.
The small target gave the hosts the luxury to adopt a cautious approach. They too struggled against the Indian spinners before overhauling the target with 5.3 overs to spare. It is Sri Lanka’s first ever T20I series win over India.
Rahul Chahar dismissed both the openers — Avishka Fernando (12) and Minod Bhanuka (18) — and Sadeera Samarawickrama (6) but such a small total did not give India any chance to script a comeback.
Sri Lanka’s top batsman Dhananjaya de Silva (23*), though, nudged the ball around nicely for singles and doubles to take the side past the finish line.
De Silva showed when scoring boundaries is not possible, working the ball around is the best way, something the Indian batsmen failed to do. After shining with ball in his hand, Hasaranga also scored 14 runs.
The footwork of the Indians against the spinners did not inspire any confidence, looking into future, as they remained doubtful whether to play on front-foot or the back-foot.