Twitter Reacts As Sri Lanka Chase Down 132 Against India To Enforce A Decider
Chamika Karunaratne [Image-Twitter]

A handy cameo by Chamika Karunaratne [12 off 6] and a matured unbeaten 34-ball 40 by Dhananjaya de Silva has helped Sri Lanka chase down 132 in the final over against India to enforce a decider in the three-match series.

Defending just 132, India needed early wickets and that is exactly what they got in the form of Avishka Fernando and Sadeera Samarwickrama in the first seven overs.

Fernando got off to a good start as he smashed Chetan Sakariya for a couple of boundaries in the second over but he soon perished in the following over courtesy of a brilliant catch by Rahul Chahar at the deep square-leg boundary.

Twitter Reacts As Sri Lanka Chase Down 132 Against India To Enforce A Decider
Chakravarthy dismissed Sadeera [Image-Twitter]
Varun Chakravarthy then got into the act as he completely bamboozled Sadarawickrama with a googly, one that jagged back into him to knock over his stumps.

Dasun Shanaka
Dasun Shanaka (Image Credit: Twitter)

India could have had Dasun Shanaka in the very next over bowled by Kuldeep Yadav. Shanaka, in an attempt to sweep Kuldeep, ended up missing it completely.

The visitors went up immediately but the umpire thought that Shanaka had got a bit of bat on it as he did not signal leg-bye.

The Indians decided against taking the review and it proved to be a mistake as ball tracking showed that the ball would have knocked over the middle-stump.

India, Sri Lanka
Team India [Image-Twitter]
However, the mistake didn’t cost India much as Kuldeep Yadav got his man in his next over after Shanaka was stumped while trying to hit the leg-spinner over his head.

Kuldeep chipped in with another wicket in the form of Minod Bhanuka [36 off 31], who failed to make the most of the reprieve that he had got earlier in the over, by holing out to Rahul Chahar at deep mid-on in the 12th over.

With the required run-rate creeping up, Sri Lanka needed a big over and they got that in the 14th over bowled by Kuldeep as Hasaranga and Dhananjaya smashed a four and six to pocket 15 runs.

Hasaranga smashed 15 off 10 balls to bring Sri Lanka back in a position of strength before Rahul Chahar dismissed him on the final ball of his spell in the 15th over.

Bhuvi and Chakravarthy [1/18 in 4 overs] gave just 9 runs in the next two overs and the equation eventually boiled down to 28 off the last 18 balls. Chetan Sakariya gave India another crucial breakthrough as Ramesh Mandis holed out at short mid-wicket in an attempt to hoike the left-arm pacer across the line.

However, Chamika Karunaratne’s handy cameo where he hit a six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the penultimate over, eventually led to India’s undoing as the former and Dhananjaya de Silva took Sri Lanka past the finishing line in the last over.

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India struggled their way to 5/132 in 20 overs

Twitter Reacts As Sri Lanka Chase Down 132 Against India To Enforce A Decider
Ruturaj Gaikwad. (Credits: Twitter)

Batting first, Team India got off to a decent start as skipper Shikhar Dhawan and debutant Ruturaj Gaikwad racked up 45 runs in the powerplay.

However, with the pitch aiding spinners substantially, the Indian batters failed to break free post the fielding restrictions.

Gaikwad, who scored an 18-ball 21, was the first batter to perish after the right-hander got undone by the pace of Dasun Shanaka in the 7th over.

Shikhar Dhawan played some delightful strokes initially but he got stuck against the spinners big time.

The southpaw managed a painstaking 42-ball 40 before he eventually got knocked over by Akila Dananjaya while trying to up the scoring rate.

Twitter Reacts As Sri Lanka Chase Down 132 Against India To Enforce A Decider
Wanindu Hasaranga [Image-Twitter]
Devdutt Padikkal (29 off 23 balls) rotated the stroke brilliantly but just as he looked like breaking the shackles when he reverse-swept hit Wanindu Hasaranga for a six, he missed the conventional sweep and ended up seeing his stumps rattled.

The Sri Lankan spinners tightened their grip on the duo of Sanju Samson (7 off 13 balls) and Nitish Rana (9 off 12 balls) as both batters struggle big time on a sluggish surface.

Twitter Reacts As Sri Lanka Chase Down 132 Against India To Enforce A Decider
Sanju Samson [Image-Twiter]
Samson was bowled by Akila while Nitish Rana holed out to De Silva. Bhuvneshwar Kumar scored a crucial 11-ball 13* as India huffed and puffed their way to 5/132 after 20 overs.

 

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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