India vs Sri Lanka-5 talking points

The second T20 of India vs Sri Lanka was held at Ranchi today. India came back strongly and won the match and levelled the 3 match series 1-1. India won the match by 69 runs which happens to be the 3rd highest margin of victory for India. Dhoni used 7 bowlers and rotated them well. Both the batsmen and bowlers bounced backed strongly after the previous match’s dismal show. Today we at Essentially Sports bring to you the top 5 talking points of the match.

5) Yuvraj fails yet again
Yuvraj Singh failed yet again when he got a golden duck today, handing Thisara Perera his first T20 hattrick. Some may wonder till what time can Yuvraj continue to play his sympathy card. He even failed in the last match scoring 10 of 14 balls. Is India missing a trick here by persisting with Yuvraj Singh instead of Manish Pandey? Should Yuvraj be dropped from the World Cup squad and be replaced by Manish Pandey? Will Manish Pandey have the same fate as Subramanium Badrinath? Is it correct to play a batsman on his past glories and not on the current form? Only time will tell.

4) Shikhar Dhawan’s blistering innings
Dhawan today took apart the Sri Lankan bowling attack and scored the 5th fastest fifty by an Indian when he got to 50 runs off 22 balls. Yuvraj singh holds 3 spots out of the 5 with 50s which came up in 12, 20 and 20 balls and the number 2 spot is held by Gautam Gambhir with a 19 ball 50. Dhawan hit 7 balls to the fence and 2 over it during his innings of 51 off 25 balls at a strike rate of over 204. He hit the ball to all parts of the ground and yet again his partnership with Rohit Sharma proved fruitful as they raced to 70 runs within 6 overs.

3) Thisara Perera hattrick
Thisara Perera today took the 4th hattrick in t20 history when he got the wickets of Hardik Pandya, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh. By taking the hattrick he restricted India to 197 when they were looking well set for a score over 200 with 2 set batsman on the crease. He bowled according to the plan and teased the batsmen to play lofted shots and got them caught out by bowling low full tosses.

2) Lightening fast Dhoni
The superman behind the stumps stumped 2 dangerous batsmen – Dilshan and Chandimal off the bowling of Ashwin and Jadeja respectively and helped India win the match. He even caught Gunathilaka off the bowling of Ashish Nehra. Contrary to his counterpart Chandimal, he kept wickets, captained his side and batted without looking under pressure. His ability to quickly gather the ball and take the bails off makes him one of the most dangerous men behind the stumps. Presently he is just behind Kumara Sangakara in terms of most stumpings in ODI cricket.

1) Indian bowlers finally coming good
The Indian bowlers today bowled to their full abilities and gave a spirited performance today. Led by Ravichandran Ashwin who ended with 3-14 in his allotted 4 overs. He was supported well by Jadeja with 2-24 off his full quota of 4 overs. Jasprit Bumrah impressed everyone with his Yorkers and also picked up 2 wickets for 17 runs. Ashish Nehra also chipped in with 2 wickets for 26 runs.