5 Batsmen With The Most Runs In India-Sri Lanka T20Is

After completion of the ODI series against Sri Lanka, who lost by a 2-1 scoreline, India will take on the hosts in a 3-match T20I series from Sunday in Colombo. Just like the Tests and ODIs of the past decade, the Asian giants have dominated their Island neighbors in T20Is too.

Of the 19 T20Is between the two sides, India have won 13 and lost 5. In fact, Sri Lanka have defeated India just twice in T20Is since 2016; they have never beaten India in a bilateral T20I series!

Apart from Sri Lanka’s own decline, another reason for India’s dominance in the format over them has been their batting, which has time and again put the opposition under pressure.

We look at the top 5 batsmen who have scored the most runs in India-Sri Lanka T20Is:

5. Suresh Raina-265 runs

Former middle-order batsman Suresh Raina averaged an impressive 29.44 against the Lankans; he scored 265 runs in 10 innings, with a solitary fifty – 63 off 47 – which came in a group game in 2010 T20 World Cup in St Lucia.

Raina played plenty of cameos while batting lower down the order. A few of his other scores against Sri Lanka include 35, 21, 34*, 20, 30, 25, 27, all coming at a healthy strike rate.

4. Rohit Sharma-289 runs

Rohit Sharma has played some memorable innings against Sri Lanka – 2 out of his 3 double hundreds in ODI cricket and 1 out of his 4 T20I tons have come against the same opposition.

Speaking of T20I cricket, the right-handed opener has smashed 289 runs against the neighboring Islanders at a strike rate of 143.78, with a best of 118 off just 43 balls which came in 2017 in Indore. Other than that – and one knock of 43 – Sharma has unusually been kept quiet by the Lankan bowlers in the shortest format.

3. Shikhar Dhawan-289 runs

Playing under the limelight of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan has carved out a magnificent career in white-ball cricket. He is leading the side against Sri Lanka, an opposition against whom he averages a mammoth 69.43 in ODIs; in T20Is too his average, while playing versus the same opposition, of 41.28 is terrific.

That average comes from his 289 runs in just 8 innings, in which he crossed the 50-run mark thrice. Dhawan has a best of 90 versus Sri Lanka, which came three years ago in Colombo. In the last T20I encounter against the same opposition, in Pune last year, the southpaw whacked 52 runs off 36 balls.

2. KL Rahul-295 runs

KL Rahul has also had a great time so far plundering the Sri Lankan bowlers time and again – in the shortest format he has amassed 295 runs in just 7 innings at 42.14 while striking at 141.14. He has carved out three fifty-plus scores. He has gone past 40 in 4 of those 7 innings against Sri Lanka.

1. Virat Kohli-339 runs

And now, finally, the Sri Lankan bowling slayer, India captain Virat Kohli turns his absolute beast mode when he comes up against the Islanders. While picking runs against this particular opposition, Kohli averages 60.00 in ODIs, 77.23 in Tests, and a staggering 84.75 in T20Is.

In just 6 T20I innings, the right-hander has gathered 339. 4 out of those 6 knocks are half-centuries; the two other being 30* and 26, both of 17 balls each.

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