KOHLI BECOMES QUICKEST TO REACH 11K INTERNATIONAL RUNS AS CAPTAIN
Pune, Jan. 10: Shikhar Dhawan silenced his critics, K. L. Rahul sizzled as usual and the trio of fast bowlers were intimidating in India’s lopsided 78run victory over Sri Lanka in the third
T20 International on Friday, sealing the series 2-0.
India were sent
into bat by S r i Lanka captain Lasith Malinga but on a flat track, the hosts managed an above-par 201 for 6, largely due to Dhawan (52 off 36 balls) and Rahul’s
(54 off 36 balls) opening stand of 97 in little less than 11 overs. Shardul Thakur (21 not out off 8 balls) used his long handle to a good effect and Manish Pandey (31 off 18 balls) hardly showed any rustiness adding 37 runs in final
2.2 overs to take the score past 200-run mark.
In reply, Sri Lanka managed only 123 runs in 15.5 overs as there was simply no resistance from the islanders with the gulf in class being so evident. Eight Sri Lankan batsmen failed to reach double figures with Dhananjaya De
Pune, Jan. 10: India’s Virat Kohli on Friday achieved another rare milestone when he became the quickest to reach 11,000 international runs as a captain during the third and final T20 International against
Sri Lanka here.
Needing just one run to reach the milestone, the righthander took a single off Lakshan Sandakan to get to the feat.
Silva
(51) and Angelo Mathews (31) adding 68 for the fifth wicket. They lost four wickets in the Powerplay overs and there was no coming back from that position.
It was primarily due to the pace and bounce generated by Jasprit Bumrah (1/5 in 2 overs), Shardul Thakur
(2/19 in 3 overs) and the ever-improving Navdeep Saini (3/28 in 3.5 overs), who again bowled an unplayable yorker to get Kusal Perera out.
In fact, skipper Virat Kohli could be lauded for promoting Sanju Samson
(6) and Pandey, who have been benched for the longest time. While Samson fluffed his lines, Pandey did his case no harm with a useful knock towards the end.
Put into bat, Dhawan, who has been under pressure for some time smashed seven boundaries and a six in his
97-run opening stand with the in-form Rahul who also hit an over boundary along with five fours.
However, the hosts suffered a middle-order collapse with Sri Lankan wrist spinners Wanidu Hasaranga (1-27) and chinaman Lakshan Sandakan (335) spun their web around
Kohli, thus, became the sixth international captain to reach the feat and the second Indian after talismanic Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Kohli is followed by Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith, MS Dhoni, Allan Border and Stephen Fleming. India lead the three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka 1-0 after registering a comprehensive seven-wicket win in Indore. — the batsmen on a flat track. But Pandey, playing his first game of the tournament and Thakur once again revelling in his role as a lowerorder pinch-hitter (22 not out off 8 balls; 1x4, 2x6) ensured that the hosts crossed 200-run mark.
Rahul set the tone playing a cut shot off rival skipper Lasith Malinga for his first boundary. Dhawan got an early ‘life’, when Dasun Shanaka dropped one at deep square leg. Rahul, then hit two consecutive boundaries, both drives, off Angelo Mathews as India raced to 22/0.
The visitors introduced off-spinner Dhananjaya De Silva in the fourth over, but
Dhawan welcomed him with a four over long-on. Rahul then dispatched a Silva full-toss over long leg for a maximum as India amassed 13 runs in it. Dhawan changed his gears as he hammered two boundaries in fifth over as India reached team total of 50.
Making optimum use of the life, Dhawan smashed back-to-back fours, slashing one over backward point and another through extra cover off pacer Lahiru Kumara. The duo was coasting along well as India after 9 overs were 82/0. After two quiet overs, Dhawan smashed Hasaranga over deep mid-wicket for a six.
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India: K. L. Rahul st Perera b Sandakan 54, Shikhar Dhawan c Gunathilaka b Sandakan 52, Sanju Samson lbw b PWH de Silva 6, Manish Pandey (not out) 31, Shreyas Iyer c & b Sandakan 4, Virat Kohli run out (Gunathilaka/ Perera) 26, Washington Sundar c Sandakan b Kumara 0, Shardul Thakur (not out) 22. Extras (LB-2, W-4) 6. Total (for six wickets in 20 overs) 201.
FoW: 1-97, 2-106, 3-118, 4-122, 5-164, 6-164. Bowling: Malinga 4-0-40-0, Mathews 3-0-38-0, de Silva 1-0-13-0, Lahiru 4-0-46-1, Hasaranga 4-0-27-1, Sandakan 4-0-35-3.
Sri Lanka: D. Gunathilaka c Sundar b Bumrah 1, A. Fernando c Iyer b Thakur 9, K. Perera b Saini 7, O. Fernando run out (Pandey) 2, A. Mathews c Pandey b Sundar 31, D. de Silva c Bumrah b Saini 57, D. Shanaka c and b Thakur 9, W. Hasaranga run out (Chahal) 0, L. Sandakan st Samson b Sundar 1, L. Malinga c Kohli b Saini 0, L. Kumara (not out) 1. Extras (B-1, W-4) 5. Total (in 15.5 overs) 123.
FoW: 1-5,2-11, 3-15, 4-26, 5-94, 6-110, 7-110, 8-118, 9-122. Bowling: Bumrah 2-1-5-1, Thakur 3-0-19-2, Saini 3.5-028-3, Sundar 4-0-37-2, Chahal 3-0-33-0.