ANALYSIS
Follow UsSports are cruel. When the athletes engage themselves in a contest of one-upmanship, seldom does it end on a satisfying note for everyone involved. Tonight, it came as close as it can for both the teams.
With a bunch of players in isolation, India’s squad was everyone’s guess till minutes before the game. “We have eleven players to choose from and all eleven are playing,” said India’s head coach Rahul Dravid ahead of the toss.
The eleven fit men included five proper batsmen and six proper bowlers. India would have preferred if the numbers had interchanged. While the fans back home wished for Dravid to come out of retirement, thankfully for the Indian side, the eleven fit men included a proper wicket-keeper and did not require their coach to walk out as a substitute and take the added responsibility once more. As it turned out, India ended up playing with 10 men as Navdeep Saini neither batted nor bowled. He even hurt his left shoulder with an awkward fall in the 19th over, probably depleting India’s resources further for the decider with a quick turnaround.
Amid all this, given that India took the game till the last over and made Sri Lanka fight hard despite a low target should be heart-warming. They were even ahead on DLS when the rain threatened to interrupt at the beginning of the 19th over of the chase.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, were desperate for a win themselves. In T20Is since 2019, no other side has a win percentage as low as them: 24%. Even the next-best, the West Indies, are miles ahead at 41.9%. In between the focus on this being a second-string Indian side or the number of players missing now, Sri Lanka’s lack of resources due to contract issues and bans went under the radar. It did not help when a senior pro and reportedly the highest-paid player till a while back, Dhananjaya de Silva averaged 16 across the three ODIs and scored a 10-ball nine in the first T20I.
It was relief more than satisfaction when de Silva gently steered the ball – one of many throughout the evening – to short third man to take the winning run. In a chase of 133, a 34-ball 40 was the innings of the match. With only two boundary strokes – one four and a six – it also passed the maturity test that Sri Lanka expected from him all along.
“We knew we were one batter short. We knew we had to construct our innings smartly,” said Shikhar Dhawan after the game. Batting with caution, Dhawan scored at a strike rate of 104.6 in the first six overs tonight. He batted at a 137.5 in the first T20I. Though in the only period brisk of run-scoring, India managed 45 runs in the powerplay. In his first outing for India, Ruturaj Gaikwad did not lose his gift of timing.
Devdutt Padikkal, in at three, survived on his first ball in India colours. A ball from Ramesh Mendis, turning away from him, nearly brushed his off stump. He then ended up being the most fluent batsman on the night. Eight wickets in hand with five overs to go ensured India had countered the lack of batting depth. But, Sanju Samson chose a bad occasion to have an indifferent outing scoring nine off 13 balls. India managed to score only 38 runs in the last five.
Unlike India, the hosts could not capitalize on the powerplay. Though Chetan Sakariya went for two boundaries in each of his first two overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was on the money. Sri Lankan batsmen got a boundary on the first ball of the fifth and the sixth over but still ended the powerplay at a run-a-ball.
Indian spinners proved to be more of a nuisance than the Sri Lankans did. The hosts played 33.3% false shots and lost four wickets to India’s spinners. This compared to 25% false shots and three wickets for India against Sri Lanka’s spinners.
In the end, Sri Lanka batting deep along with their batsmen being busier with the knowledge of the target proved to be the difference. A few drop catches and ill-timed misfields worked against India on a night of fine margins.
After the game, Mickey Arthur spoke about Chamika Karunaratne practising range hitting with the batting coach Grant Flower while he was among the reserves in England. He along with Charith Asalanka – who missed this game due to an injury – are the finds of the series for Sri Lanka. It was a six by Karunaratne in the 19th over that resulted in being a decisive blow. An attempted yorker gone wrong spoilt Bhuvneshwar’s figures who went for 15 runs in the other 23 balls he bowled.
In hindsight, there are a couple of questions for India to ponder upon. Dhawan, after losing the toss – his fourth out of five on this tour - said that he would have batted first anyway. Given that India had only five proper batsmen, would it have been better to bat second with the target clearly defined instead of the guesswork required while batting first? With the rain around, even the wicket turned out to be better while batting second. But, to make the decision, the coin needs to land in India’s favour first.
Second, India opted for a left-right combination to open with. However, the second wicket partnership had two lefties in the middle. Sri Lanka cleverly opted to bowl two off-spinners Ramesh Mendis and Dhananjaya for four overs in a row (8th to 11th) that went for only 22 runs. Moreover, it allowed them to keep Wanindu Hasaranga for later in the innings.
In a tour that has rather become a damp squib with each passing day, it is great that the series stands tied, with everything to play for on the final evening less than 24 hours later. From India's thumping victory in the first ODI to now, the sides might have finally become evenly matched.
