India take T20I series as Sri Lanka’s batting debacle continues

Kusal Perera top scored for Sri Lanka with 53 off 34 balls

Ravi Bishnoi unsettled the Sri Lanka middle order with three wickets

• Sri Lanka again loses seven wickets for 31, a repeat of losing nine wickets for 30 on Saturday

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq reporting from Pallekele

Sri Lanka’s batting woes continued to haunt them as they suffered another middle order collapse to hand the advantage back to India in the second T20I which they lost by seven wickets under the DLS method due to rain interrupting play at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium yesterday.

The win saw India take an unassailable 2-0 win in the three-match series.

From 130-2 at the end of the 15th over, Sri Lanka collapsed to 161-9, losing seven wickets for 31. It followed their dismal batting collapse in the first T20I on Saturday when, from 140-1, they were all out for 170, losing nine wickets for 30.

India’s run chase was interrupted after three balls and six runs by rain. When play resumed after a delay of 70 minutes, India’s target was pruned down to 78 off eight overs. It was more or less a walk in the park for their strong batting line-up as they made a mockery of the revised target, cantering home with nine balls to spare, scoring 81-3. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya plundered 10 fours and four sixes between them.

Earlier in the day, Kusal Perera notched up his 14th half-century (53 off 34 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes) and was involved in a couple of 50-run partnerships – 54 off 36 balls with Pathum Nissanka (33) and 50 off 34 with Kamindu Mendis (26).

At 130-2 after 15 overs, Sri Lanka were sitting pretty to post a competitive total. But they faltered in the latter part of their innings for the second time in as many days to finish with an under-par score.

Pandya removed both the set batters (Kamindu Mendis and Perera) in the same over, Player of the Match Ravi Bishnoi removed Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga for ducks off successive deliveries, and Axar Patel bowled two overs at the death to pick up the wickets of Ramesh Mendis and Maheesh Theekshana as the innings folded up rather tamely.

The third and final T20I will take place tomorrow at the same venue.