Pathans guide India to victory
India vs Sri Lanka- T20 international
Venue :- Colombo, Sri Lanka
Final Score: India 174/7 ( 19.2) beat Sri Lanka 171/4 (20 overs)
Man of the Match:- Yusuf Pathan (India)
A late assault from the Pathan brothers saw India beat Sri Lanka in a tightly fought T20 encounter in Colombo.
When the two came together at the crease, India were 115/7, needing another 57 runs from 29 balls. Some lusty hitting from the duo, combined with some poor bowling for Sri Lanka allowed India to overhaul the target with four balls to spare. Yusuf Pathan was named MoM for his all round performance ( 22 off 10 balls and 2/23 with the ball)
Earlier, a fine 61 from captain Tillekeratne Dilshan allowed Sri Lanka to post a competitive total of 171 after choosing to bat first. Jayasuriya and Dilshan got off to a flyer, but Sri Lanka lost the plot in the middle overs ( 36 runs between overs 6 and 12), and towards the end ( 19 runs off the last three overs)
India lost Gambhir and Sehwag early, but Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina ensured that they stayed above the asking run rate. However Sri Lanka clawed their way back in the middle of the innings as India went from 81/2 to 115/7. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma were guilty of taking one ball too many to get settled.
However Yusuf Pathan changed the complexion of the game, hitting Bandara for 17 in the 16th over. As Dilshan abandoned his plan of spin and turned to Fernando and Malinga, younger brother Irfan got into the act too. Fernando went for 25 runs in his two overs, and it was his sloppy 19th over that put the game back into India’s favour.
Malinga was asked to salvage a lost cause in the last over with five runs needed from six, but Irfan made sure there were no heroics from the slingy Sri Lankan as he hoisted him over midwicket for a winning six.
