Australia finished the day on 147 for 3, 36 runs behind New Zealand’s first innings tally of 183. Now that Dhoni will be playing in his own backyard before his home fans, he can hope to get a typical sub-continent wicket at a ground, which is hosting its first ever Twenty20 global. More than that number, though, and more than the fact that he might put to rest some of the concerns about his T20 batting, it was striking how fluently he played through the leg side, scoring 27 runs in seven shots into that region. Marsh was then given out, creating an angry response from all-rounder and batting partner Matthew Wade, while captain Steve Smith was booed at the end of the game when he questioned the decision.
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The third and final Twenty20 worldwide (T20I) of the three-match series between host India and Sri Lanka will be played at Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
When you are run by one of the world’s richest sports bodies, you are expected to meet a certain standard while hosting an worldwide match against one of your biggest rivals… especially a month before hosting the T20 World Cup and when your opponent is the No 1 team is the format.
Bumrah was reluctant to bowl yorkers in the Pune match, but at Ranchi he made amends for his sins, and the intent was evident right from the first delivery. “That’s cricket, I suppose”. He made the most of it. “There was some obvious disappointment but you can’t do anything about it”.
Put in to bat, the home side got off to an explosive start with both openers Rohit Sharma (43) and Dhawan taking the initiative to go all out at the Lankan bowlers. While chasing India’s stiff target of 197 runs, Sri Lanka were never in the game and lost three wickets inside the powerplay overs. Other than Chamara Kapugedera (32) and skipper Dinesh Chandimal (31), none of the Lankan batsmen could stand against the disciplined Indian attack and only scored 127 for 9 in 20 overs.
While Pandya struck 27 off 12 deliveries with the help of one four and two sixes, Raina’s innings of 30 off 19 balls was studded with five fours.
Incoming batsman Ajinkya Rahane (25) gave good support to Rohit as the duo scored at a good pace to bring up India’s 100 in the 11th over itself. Dhawan was the aggressor and jetted off to a quick 20 balls half century in the 7th over.
# Thisara Perera (3 for 33) has recorded career-best bowling figures in T20Is, obliterating the 2 for 19 versus England in Gros Islet on May 13, 2010.
Old horse Ashish Nehra had Seekkuge Prasanna on the very first ball of his opening spell before inducing an edge from opener Danushka Gunathilaka to leave Sri Lanka tottering.
Ashwin grabbed 3-14 and Nehra took 2-26 and were supported well by left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja and seam bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who also took two wickets each.
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In the next ball, Raina was caught by Dushmantha Chameera at backward short leg. Perera completed his hat-trick when Yuvraj was caught by Senanayake at long on.
