Dilshan Munaweera smashed his maiden half-century while debutant Ashan Priyanjan played a useful hand to guide Sri Lanka to a respectable 170 for seven in the lone Twenty20 match against India, here on Wednesday.
Playing his 10th T20 match, Munaweera scored a quick-fire 53 off 29 balls with the help of five boundaries and as many as four hits over the fence to keep up Sri Lanka’s momentum at the R. Premadasa Stadium here.
He was ably supported by Priyanjan, who scored a run-a-ball unbeaten 40 during which he hit one boundary and two sixes to take Sri Lanka to the fighting total.
For India, young leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers with figures of three for 43 from his four overs, while chinaman Kuldeep Yadav scalped two for 20.
Priyanjan played a handy knock to save the hosts from the blushes after losing their way in the middle overs once again.
This was after the match started after a 55 minutes delay because of wet outfield following rains.
Put into bat, Sri Lanka made a hectic start with Niroshan Dickwella (17) attacking Jasprit Bumrah at the start.
It forced India skipper Virat Kohli to introduce spin early into the PowerPlay in the form of Chahal.
Skipper Upul Tharanga played on a Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivery in the third over.
Munaweera then went into attack mode as he carted Chahal for two sixes in the next over.
Dickwella added 23 runs with both Tharanga and Munaweera, as Sri Lanka reached 50 for two in the sixth over.
Munaweera kept up the assault on Indian bowlers and reached his fifty off 26 balls, the second quickest for a Sri Lankan batsman in this format against India, after Kumar Sangakkara who took only 21 balls.
Using its five-pronged attack, inclusive of three spinners, India rotated the bowlers around.
Turning point
The turning point perhaps came when Mahendra Singh Dhoni pulled off a trademark quick stumping to dismiss Angelo Mathews off Chahal in the seventh over.
It denied Sri Lanka an aggressive middle-order partnership.
Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel then put on the brakes after the PowerPlay overs as Munaweera and Thisara Perera added 37 off 29 balls.
Munaweera was bowled off Kuldeep in the 12th over, the bat escaping from his hand as he looked to force a pull and the ball hit the stumps instead.
Two overs later, Chahal returned to strike a double blow as he bowled Perera and then trapped Dasun Shanaka leg before in the space of four balls.
Sri Lanka was crawling by then and was reduced to 134 for seven in the 17th over as Seekkuge Prasanna (11) was caught in the deep off Kuldeep.
Priyanjan then played a blinder of a knock to help Sri Lanka post a competitive target.
He was watchful at first as Sri Lanka didn’t want to lose any more wickets and put on 36 runs off 20 balls with Isuru Udana (19 off 10 balls) for the eighth wicket.
Towards the end, the duo played some unorthodox shots to push Sri Lanka forward.
Scoreboard:
Sri Lanka: Niroshan Dickwella b Bumrah 17 (14b, 3x4), Upul Tharanga b Bhuvneshwar 5 (4b, 1x4), Dilshan Munaweera b Kuldeep 53 (29b, 5x4, 4x6), Angelo Mathews st Dhoni b Chahal 7 (5b, 1x4), Ashan Priyanjan (not out) 40 (40b, 1x4, 2x6), Thisara Perera b Chahal 11 (7b, 1x6), Dasun Shanaka lbw b Chahal 0 (3b), Seekkuge Prasanna c Kohli b Kuldeep 11 (8b, 1x4), Isuru Udana (not out) 19 (10b, 2x4, 1x6); Extras (lb-4, w-3): 7; Total (for seven wickets in 20 overs): 170.
Fall of wickets: 1-23 (Tharanga, 2.2), 2-46 (Dickwella, 4.3), 3-62 (Mathews, 6.3), 4-99 (Munaweera, 11.2), 5-113 (Perera, 13.3), 6-113 (Shanaka, 13.6), 7-134 (Prasanna, 16.4).
India bowling: Bhuvneshwar 4-0-36-1, Bumrah 4-0- 38-1, Chahal 4-0-43-3, Axar 4-0-29-0, Kuldeep 4-0-20-2.
Toss: India.