Birthday boy Hasaranga bowls Sri Lanka to series win over India

Sri Lanka’s sensational leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga celebrated his 24th birthday in style yesterday by bowling his team to a series winning seven-wicket win by taking 4 wickets for 9 runs in the third and final T20I against India played at the R. Premadasa Stadium yesterday.

India opting to bat first were restricted to a total of 81-8 with skipper Dasun Shanaka joining Hasaranga in the destruction of the opponents’ batting by capturing two wickets and pulling off two stunning one-handed catches.

Sri Lanka in their reply lost three wickets all to leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, but Dhananjaya de Silva once again steadied the innings to see the team home with 33 balls to spare scoring an undefeated 23.  

The last occasion Sri Lanka won a T20I series was also under the captaincy of Dasun Shanaka when they beat Pakistan 3-0 in 2019. The defeat was India’s first after going through eight consecutive T20I series unbeaten.

Scores: India 81-8 (20) (Kuldeep Yadav 23*, Wanindu Hasaranga 4/9, Dasun Shanaka 2/20) lost to Sri Lanka 82-3 (14.3) (Dhananjaya de Silva 23*, Rahul Chahar 3/15)