COLOMBO: Dhananjaya de Silva hit 40 not out as Sri Lanka beat India by four wickets in the Covid-19 delayed second Twenty20 international to level the series at 1-1 on Wednesday.

Chasing 133 for victory at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Sri Lanka depended on an unbeaten 28-run seventh-wicket partnership between de Silva and Chamika Karunaratne, who made 12, to achieve their target with two balls to spare in Colombo.

Earlier India posted 132-5 after they fielded four debutants following virus positive Krunal Pandya and eight of his close contacts forced to sit out the game, which was postponed hours before the scheduled start on Tuesday.

Akila Dananjaya returned figures of 2-29 including the key wicket of skipper Shikhar Dhawan, bowled for 40.

The third and deciding T20 is on Thursday at the same venue.

Scoreboard

INDIA:

R.D. Gaikwad c Bhanuka b Shanaka21

S. Dhawan b Dananjaya40

D. Padikkal b Hasaranga29

S.V. Samson b Dananjaya7

N. Rana c de Silva b Chameera9

B. Kumar not out13

N.A. Saini not out1

EXTRAS (B-1, W-11)12

TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs)132

FALL OF WKTS: 1-49, 2-81, 3-99, 4-104, 5-130.

DID NOT BAT: R.D. Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav, C. Sakariya, V. Chakravarthy.

BOWLING: Chameera 4-0-23-1 (2w); Karunaratne 1-0-6-0; Dananjaya 4-0-29-2 (1w); Udana 1-0-7-0; Hasaranga 4-0-30-1 (1w); Shanaka 2-0-14-1 (1w); Mendis 2-0-9-0; de Silva 2-0-13-0.

SRI LANKA:

W.I.A. Fernando c Chahar b Kumar11

M. Bhanuka c Chahar b Kuldeep36

W.S.R. Samarawickrama n Varun8

M.D. Shanaka st Samson b Kuldeep3

D.M. de Silva not out40

W. Hasaranga c Kumar b Chahar15

W.R.T. Mendis c Gaikwad b Sakariya2

C. Karunaratne not out12

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-3)6

TOTAL (for six wkts, 19.4 overs)133

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-39, 3-55, 4-66, 5-94, 6-105.

DID NOT BAT: I. Udana, P.V.D. Chameera, A. Dananjaya.

BOWLING: Kumar 4-0-21-1; Sakariya 3.4-0-34-0 (1w); Chakravarthy 4-0-18-1; Chahar 4-0-27-1; Kuldeep 4-0-30-2 (1w).

RESULT: Sri Lanka won by four wickets to level three-match series 1-1..

UMPIRES: R.S.A. Palliyaguruge and R.M.P.J. Rambukwella (both Sri Lanka).

TV UMPIRE: K. Dharmasena (Sri Lanka).

MATCH REFEREE: R.S. Madugalle (Sri Lanka).

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Dhananjaya de Silva.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2021