Ind vs SL T20 Match report analysis. Virat Kohli KL Rahul shine.

Ind vs SL T20 series 2nd match analysis India 144 for 3 (Rahul 45, Iyer 34, Kohli 30 *) beat Sri Lanka 142 for 9 (Kusal Perera 34, Thakur 3-23, Saini 2-18) by seven wickets
India played its bowling muscles against a submissive Sri Lankan striking unit in Indore. Navdeep Saini took two wickets and went to 18, while Shardul Thakur neutralized the enemy with three of his own wickets. After Lasith Malinga decided that the guests were short by 25 to 30  before a stiff score to hold the 142, India let the punch muscles play.

KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan flew through the powerplay overs and put on 71 for the first wicket, breaking their backs on the target. Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli then made thirty to lead the hosts to victory, with 15 balls and seven wickets to save. Although there were energy surges in Sri Lanka, they never lasted long enough to put India under serious pressure.

Each of the top three in Sri Lanka made a start, but none could make more than 35. The middle and lower order (Sri Lanka in this match had considerable batting order up to no 9) was repeatedly broken up by India’s pace bowlers. Wanindu Hasaranga’s three consecutive boundaries gave the innings a respectable sheen, but the moment Rahul completed two stunning cover drives against Malinga, it became clear how good this field was and how much Sri Lanka was playing to fight to defend that score , Sri Lanka fails at the start Avishka Fernando had also looked good at the beginning of Sri Lanka’s innings. He had started his own lush Jasprit Bumrah cover drive to get away from the brand before punching Saini twice in the leg shortly afterwards. But when he was tested with spin, his timing fell apart.

Trying to start Washington Sundar in the middle of the fifth over, he only managed to find the outfield player who got out at 22 of 16 balls. At the other end Danushka Gunathilaka struggled through the power play before Saini rattled his stumps at 148 km / h full delivery in the eighth over. Kusal Perera then looked good through the middle period and hit three sixes ahead of the spinners, including a bold retreat from Kuleep Yadav. But since Sri Lanka’s run rate is now dropping, he dropped out and tried a fourth six – Kuldeep immediately got the wicket. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka had only four losses in the 14th game. There was a lot of firepower to come, you thought, but not too much success, as Thakur and Saini in particular made breakthroughs in the last third of their innings.

 KL Rahul shines in the power play Each of the six boundaries that India hit in Powerplay came from Rahul’s bat. He clattered Lahiru Kumara for the first four through the leg side and then smoked the next four boundaries through the ceiling – both against the seam and against the spin. There were also nervous moments on this route. In the fourth over he got an upper edge from de Silva, which fell into the space on the leg side. In the fifth over Lahiru, Kumara slapped him in the ribs. Ind vs SL T20.

But he pulled India almost single-handedly to the end of six overs to 54 – an almost ideal start for this chase. It was almost until the end of the ninth over that Dhawan reached his first boundary, but Rahul’s confident work had done more damage to Sri Lanka. Hasaranga made the first interventions with the ball, first rolling  Rahul with a googly through the gate before holding Dhawan at the top (the original decision was overturned in Sri Lanka’s favor), but at that point Sri Lanka desperately needed wickets fall at the other end too. They didn’t. 

Sri Lanka’s fight for the threat with the ball Sri Lanka suffered from the absence of Isuru Udana, who pulled a muscle in the fourth game after stopping at a short third man. Dasun Shanaka – Sri Lanka’s fourth choice of bowler – did a decent shift as a replacement and made it in just 26 runs through four overs. But he lacked Udana’s cunning. Iyer would be released from pressure for 34 out of 26, but Kohli would never let this chase meander. He hit four and two sixes out of the last six balls he faced and the match was over.