Friday in Pune was a mostly relaxed day for India. So much so that Virat Kohli walked in at No 6 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium while they were making their way to an eventual 201/6 during their third T20I against Sri Lanka. They did have one hand on the trophy after crossing the finish line in Indore on Tuesday.
That they reeled out three changes in the XI — Sanju Samson got a cap after four years, apart from Manish Pandey and Yuzvendra Chahal also getting look-ins — was indicative of their confidence before the clash began.
As was the narrative in Indore on Tuesday, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan kept their “who’s the other opener?” tango going. A fifty each, a 97-run stand, and the Men in Blue had been shored up right
from the start.
Yes, there were a few jitters. Samson lived like a mayfly: a first-ball six followed by being trapped in front off the next ball. So did Shreyas Iyer. Kohli was in the process of putting on another Kohli-esque masterclass, but a rare error in judgement made him go for a suicidal second run. The left-right spin combo of Lakshan Sandakan and Wanindu Hasaranga ended up with a clump of wickets. It looked like the oft-talked-about chink of India not being good defenders would again catch up with them on Friday.
But their other experiment made up. The mantle of finisher was thrust on Pandey, and he delivered. An unbeaten 18-ball 31 was conjured up with intelligence and smart hitting, keeping the steam that Rahul and Dhawan had built up going. Shardul Thakur’s baseball-like biffs gave them a nitrous boost towards the end. Nothing like a plump, 200-plus cushion for a attack that — even sans a few big guns — can chew up batting line-ups and spit them out.
Sri Lanka did try to inject experience into their XI by bringing back Angelo Mathews. But Jasprit Bumrah was at his pacy best. Navdeep Saini spat fire like he did in Indore. Thakur knuckle-balled around, as usual. Sri Lanka’s designated firefighter doused a few flames with a 20-ball 31. Dhananjaya de Silva biffed around for a while; his 36-ball 57 mutilated Chahal’s (0/33 in 3) and Washington Sundar’s figures (2/37). But the rest kept fanning the blaze that would engulf Sri Lanka and set up a 78-run win.
brief scores
India 201/6 in 20 ovs (Rahul 54, Dhawan 52, Pandey 31 n.o; Sandakan 3/35) bt Sri Lanka 123 in 15.5 ovs (De Silva 57; Saini 3/28, Thakur 2/19, Washington 2/37).