India steamroll Sri Lanka to seal series

Sri Lanka won moments, India won the match. The hosts clinched it seven wickets with 17 balls remaining to annex the T20I series. The victory in the end came in a canter, Ravindra Jadeja blazing to 45 not out off 18 balls and Shreyas Iyer anchoring the chase with an unbeaten 74 in 44 deliveries. Against a daunting 183/5 posted Sri Lanka, India’s quality and depth eventually shone through.
The tours will rue poor captaincy from Dasun Shanaka, his 19-ball 47 not out notwithstanding, that allowed Iyer to grow into the game. A more proactive approach and the Indian batsman probably wouldn’t have lasted that long to inflict hurt on the Islanders. Sri Lanka had racked up 80 runs in their last five overs to give themselves a very good chance in cold Dharamsala, in conditions that assed fast bowlers upfront.

Then, Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara cranked up speed to soften up the Indian top order. Chameera castled Rohit Sharma, via an inside edge, the fifth time he had dismissed the opener in this format. Kumara hit Ishan Kishan on the helmet with a thunderbolt, making the left-hander edgy. This was when Shanaka should have gone on all-out attack. He had runs on the board to do that. With the ball moving in the air, two slips were the need of the hour. Just one slip was posted instead.
So when Iyer outside-edged a Kumara delivery, it went through the vacant second slip region for a four. Iyer, as also Kishan, was looking uncomfortable against searing pace and bounce to start with. “They are going to get bouncier pitches in Australia (at the T20 World Cup),” Sunil Gavaskar quipped on air.

Shreyas Iyer is awarded Man of the Match for his match-winning knock of 74* off 44 deliveries 👏👏@Paytm #INDvSL pic.twitter.com/afaxCVClac
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 26, 2022
Credit to Iyer that he remained unflustered, embracing the khadoos mentality of Mumbai maidans. He had to weather the storm and wait for the slower bowlers to come into the attack. Shanaka yet again missed a trick not giving Chameera an extra over with the new ball, bringing back Binura Fernando instead. Iyer welcomed the medium pacer with three consecutive fours.
Kumara dismissed a visibly-shaken Kishan in his next over and Sanju Samson at No. 4 made a nervy beginning. A catch went down at deep backward square off Shanaka’s bowling when the Kerala batsman was on six. then, however, Iyer had got into the groove.
Sri Lanka didn’t have adequate bowling back-up to support their two tearaway quicks. Praveen Jayawickrama’s left-arm spin was bread and butter to Iyer. Consecutive sixes off his bowling gave his innings the required momentum.
And yet, after 10 overs, India were playing catch-up, scoring at eight runs per over and staring at an asking rate of 10-plus. Iyer got to his second half-century on the spin and celebrated it with a contemptuous upper-cut to a short ball from Shanaka.
Turning point
The game, though, changed in the 13th over, when Kumara returned for his second spell and was flattened Samson. The first ball went for a four followed three sixes, punctuated a wide and a dot. A 23-run over tilted the balance in the hosts’ favour. Still, the tours had an outside chance, after claiming Samson’s wicket off the final ball of the over. But Jadeja slammed the door shut on them.
A six and three successive fours in the 16th over bowled Chameera brought victory to India’s doorstep. The way Jadeja used the crease to upset the bowlers’ length was the standout feature of his batting. After that, only formalities remained. The third-wicket partnership between Iyer and Samson added 84 runs off 47 balls, while another 58 runs were put on through an unbroken fourth-wicket stand between Iyer and Jadeja, off 26 deliveries. Partnership batting did the job for India.

That’s that from the 2nd T20I.
74* from @ShreyasIyer15, 39 from @IamSanjuSamsonand a brilliant 18-ball 45* from @imjadeja as #TeamIndia seal the T20I series.
Scorecard – https://t.co/ImBxdhXjSc #INDvSL @Paytm pic.twitter.com/ELvnJ3RrgN
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 26, 2022

This was India’s fourth consecutive limited-overs series win under Sharma’s full-time charge. Also, he has now led India to 16 wins in 17 home T20Is.
The skipper, though, focused on the bigger picture. “I think it was pleasing to see for us. The middle order coming out and performing is good; to see those guys taking the responsibility and finishing off games,” he said at the post-match presentation.
Earlier, Sri Lanka showed intent bringing on Danushka Gunathilaka and promoting Charith Asalanka up the order, although the latter fell cheaply this time. After a cagey start, Gunathilaka hit his first boundary in the third over and gradually started to up the ante.
Sri Lanka still had a pretty poor Powerplay – 32 for no loss – and Jadeja’s second over was when they finally shifted gears. Gunathilaka taking a couple of sixes and a four off the left-arm spinner was what the doctor ordered at that stage, but the batsman couldn’t continue with the onslaught, getting out to a fine catch from Venkatesh Iyer, attempting another slog-sweep.

Pretty average cricketing intelligence hindered their progress in the middle overs. Both Kamil Mishara and Dinesh Chandimal perished to Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah respectively, playing with hard hands, when the field was set for slower deliveries.
After 16 overs, Sri Lanka were 111/4 and another below-par total looked on the cards. But Shanaka turned the innings on its head, laying into Patel and going on a six-hitting spree – five in total. One of his sixes against Patel was so big that it almost played peek-a-boo with Dhauladhar, the Himalayan range which the picturesque stadium here overlooks.

Pathum Nissanka became bold enough to reverse-paddle a Bumrah delivery past short third man for a four. A similar attempt against Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn’t come off and he was out leg-before for a 53-ball 75.
The fifth-wicket partnership between Nissanka and Shanaka yielded 58 runs off 26 balls. But it didn’t matter in the end.