INDIA VS SRILANKA T20:Pathan brothers turn it around as India win

SRILANKAN BATTING

INDIAN BATTING PART 1

Captain Tillekaratne Dilshan's valuable 61, off only 47 balls, was the centrepiece of Sri Lanka's competitive total of 171-4 in their one-off Twenty20 international against India at the R Premadasa Stadium here on Tuesday.


Batting first, Sri Lanka raced away to a blistering start with veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya blasting 33 runs from just 17 balls which included two powerful sixes, before Irfan Pathan broke through courtesy a smart catch from Ishant Sharma.


Spinners Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja checked the Lankan progress thereafter as the duo made boundaries hard to come by. Yusuf was also rewarded with twin wickets of Jehan Mubarak and the dangerous-looking Chamara Kapugedera (16, 9b).


Chamara Silva (21 not out) and Kaushalya Weeraratne (10 not out) prevented the hosts from losing any further wickets, but a fantastic last over from Ishant Sharma, in which he conceded just three runs, held Sri Lanka back.


India made one change from their team which went down to Sri Lanka in the fifth and final one-dayer on Sunday, bringing in Zaheer Khan in place of Laxmipathy Balaji.


Sri Lanka, who were already without their captain-vice-captain duo of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara as well as spinners Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis for the tie, made several changes. 


Lasith Malinga, who had been out of action for almost a year, returned to the side to give his side a pace boost, while batsmen Jehan Mubarak and Chamara Silva were back. Indika de Saram and Malinga Bandara were the other notable inclusions.