MATCH STORIES
Follow UsLightning never strikes (the same place) twice.
That’s an age-old saying. But this Sri Lankan team has taken it as their personal motive to prove that the proverbial saying isn’t true.
On July 27 (Saturday), Sri Lanka found themselves in the best possible position to maul down India’s total of 214 when the openers put on 84 runs in just 8.4 overs. While the duo of Kusal Perera and Pathum Nissanka were at the crease, the total seemed chaseable.
But what followed perfectly summed up the state of Sri Lankan cricket - a collapse of the worst kind. Over the next five overs, the Island nation lost seven wickets for 21 runs as the Indian bowlers put on a show in Pallekele.
Ideally, a side that belongs at the international level should be able to brush such an instance off, saying that it can ‘happen to the best of sides’ but not Sri Lanka. It wasn’t a one-off incident; it showed Sri Lanka’s state — in the purest of senses — at their dismal state, as they had a deja-vu moment.
On July 28 (Sunday), Sri Lanka were at 80/2 after 9.3 overs, in a position to comfortably post a total of well 170 to put the Men in Blue under some kind of pressure with rains around the corner. But that’s where they went into a shell and, barring some sort of respite from Kusal Perera, who scored a half-century, put on a shambolic display.
The Islanders collapsed yet again under the pressure of the Indian bowlers, losing their last seven wickets for just 31 runs, as they went from 130/3 to 161/9 after 20 overs. For India, it was the leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi who put on a show with figures of 3/26 in the second contest, with able support from both Arshdeep Singh (2/24) and Hardik Pandya (2/23).
It was the third-best display by the Indian bowling unit at the death (overs 16-20), as they went from being in a sorry position to dominating the proceedings in the second T20I in Pallekele.
Lightning strikes twice, and it has struck twice at the very same place — Pallekele.
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