India vs Sri Lanka 2016: 3rd T20I - Preview

India shrugged off their embarrassing defeat in opening T20 match in Pune with a commanding show in Ranchi, where they outclassed the island nation by 69 runs to level the series.

The Indian batsmen had struggled to cope with the 'green' track in Pune but adjusted well on a slow strip at Ranchi, where they di

The bowlers, too, were in complete control, never letting the Sri Lankan batsmen dominate. Moreover, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy was impressive and all his experiments, be it reshuffling of the batting order or bowling tactics, paid off.

India not only mastered the conditions but also executed their plans to perfection.

The flying start that openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma provided India, gave Dhoni a chance to experiment with the batting order.

The move to send Hardik Pandya ahead of himself and Yuvraj Singh worked well as the young batsman came up with a fiery cameo. In Australia, Pandya did not get an opportunity to show his batting prowess but he certainly made an impression in Ranchi last night.

It required a lot of muscle power and accurate shot selection to get runs and Pandya did a decent job.

However, Yuvraj Singh, who came to bat at number seven, did not get enough time and was out for a duck. It will be good if the elegant left-hander get some time to spend in the middle before the next month's World Twenty20.

Dhoni has conceded that it will be difficult to send him up the order since the top-four are doing extremely well but showed intent of giving Yuvraj more chances to bat for longer period.

Dhawan was in terrific touch last night and he made batting look easy. Till now it was only Rohit who was tormenting the rival bowlers but with Dhawan also striking form, Indian batting wears a more assured look.

Ajinkya Rahane though struggled a bit, and Dhoni may be tempted to draft in Manish Pandey for the series-deciding match tomorrow, even though he is not a big fan of disturbing a winning combination.

Dhoni had read the slow wicket well and employed smart bowling tactics, starting the attack with Ravichandran Ashwin, using all spin options available in the middle overs and holding back Jasprit Bumrah for as late as 16th over.

Though both Ashish Nehra and Bumrah did extremely well, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is expected to be more effective in the coastal city here as the conditions would suit his swing bowling during the evening.

The captain was sharp behind the wickets too, effecting two smart stumpings.

The Sri Lankan pace trio of Kasun Rajitha, Dushmantha Chameera and Dasun Shanaka had wreaked havoc in Pune but they were hammered around in Ranchi by the in-form Indian batsman and the visiting bowlers are unlikely to get any respite.

Thisara Perera got a hat-trick but it came too late.

Sri Lanka would hope that their batsmen do better, specially Tillakaratne Dilshan, who is the most experienced in the squad in the absence of many seniors.

With the series poised at 1-1, both the teams will be keen to end it on the winning note, going into Asia Cup and then World Twenty20 high on confidence.

T20 is a fickle format but it looks extremely difficult for the Sri Lankans to topple the home team tomorrow unless they raise their game by several notches.

Teams (from):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Pawan Negi, Ashish Nehra, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harbhajan Singh.

Sri Lanka: Dinesh Chandimal (Captain), Dushmantha Chameera, Niroshan Dickwella, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Binura Fernando, Dilhara Fernando, Asela Gunaratne, Danushka Gunathilaka, Chamara Kapugedera, Thisara Perera, Seekkuge Prasanna, Kasun Rajitha, Sachithra Senanayake, Dasun Shanaka, Milinda Siriwardana, Jeffrey Vandersay.

India vs Sri Lanka, 2nd T20I: Dhawan, Ashwin star as clinical hosts hit back to level series 1-1

After losing the first match at Pune, Shikhar Dhawan and Ravinchandran Ashwin played stellar roles to help India register a convincing 69-run win at Ranchi to level the series 1-1.

Chasing India's 196/6, the visitors could managed only 127 from the stipulated 20 overs with the loss of nine wickets.

Sri Lankan skipper Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and invited India to bat first on a seemingly dry top. Unlike the pitch in Pune, the pitch at JSCA International Stadium Complex was a typical sub-continental one, with limited assist to new ball bowlers.

India started their innings in a confident note with Rohit Sharma hitting the very first delivery of the match for a four over the covers. The Mumbai batsman was, however, soon overshadowed by a brilliant Dhawan.

The Delhi batsmen went onto registered his first fifty of the format. He reached the mini-milestone off just 22 deliveries. His batting efforts earned him the Man of the Match award, eclipsing Thisara Perera's brilliant hat-trick.

He was ably supported by a Rohit, who made 43 off 36 deliveries. Their 75-run opening stand laid the foundation for India to post a good total. Besides the openers, Indian top-order batsmen produced runs even as skipper Dhoni promoted rookie Hardik Pandya ahead of himself and Yuvraj Singh.

Ajinkya Rahane, batting at no.3, contributed with 25 valuable runs off 21 deliveries, while Suresh Raina and Pandya played two superb innings to get India to a good total.

Raina scored 30 off 19 balls, and he took some to time to get into the T20 mood. But it was altogether a different story for Pandya, who scored 27 off 12.

If it was not for Perera's hat-trick, India could have ended up scoring more than 210. The Sri Lankan bowler got the wickets of Raina, Pandya and Yuvraj in the penultimate over to restrict the Indian innings.

Dhoni started the defence with Ashwin opening the bowling. And his tactics showed results with spinner getting the better of Lankan opener Tillakaratne Dilshan in the second ball. Ashwin's superb start was responded by Ashish Nehra, by taking the wicket of Seekkuge Prasanna in the very next over.

From that double-blow, the visitors never recovered with Indian spinners taking over the reigns in the middle overs.

Ashwin returned with an impressive figures of 4-0-14-3, while Nehra was bit expensive for his 3-0-26-2.

Jedeja contained the middle order batsmen, taking two wickets by conceding 24 runs in his four-overs spell.

Skipper Dhoni himself got into act with a super-fast stumping to dismiss rival skipper, who made 31.

Chamara Kapugedera was the top scorer for Sri Lanka with 32 off 27.

But towards the end, youngster Jasprit Bumrah showed his guile once again, taking two wickets to clean up the Lankan tail.

Third and final match of the series will be played at Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

1st T20I: It was more English wicket than Indian, says MS Dhoni

Indian batsmen were all at sea against the seam and bounce extracted by rookie Sri Lanka pacers to get all-out for 101 in 18.5 overs thereby losing the match by five wickets.

"The wicket was completely different to what we have been playing in the last one month (in Australia). It was more like an English wicket. There was spongy bounce, and variable pace. The wicket was also not rolled properly. Looking at the wicket, we should not have played a few big shots that we played," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Asked if it was difficult to adjust to the Indian conditions after playing a month in Australia, Dhoni's sarcastic reply was:"It was more English conditions than Indian conditions."
Dhoni felt that another 25-30 runs could have made the contest interesting.

"This was not a 160 wicket. This was more of a 135-140 kind of wicket because there was some help for the fast bowlers. Our shot selection should have been better. Looking at the positives, everybody got a chance to bat today. The bowlers did really well and another 25 runs could have made it interesting. When we went there to field, we believed that we can try hard to defend a small total," said the skipper.

Sri Lankan captain Dinesh Chandimal also echoed Dhoni's sentiments stating that "toss became important" after he saw fresh grass on the 22-yard strip.

"I'm over the moon. I thought toss was important. I saw some fresh grass on the pitch. Credit goes to bowlers, they did a really good job. It's a young team. Every time we tell them to back themselves and do what they are capable of. We are missing a lot of senior players but the youngsters have put their hands up and grabbed the opportunity."