Sri Lanka stun India in T20

Colombo : Kusal Perera’s blazing half-century trumped Shikhar Dhawan’s 49-ball 90 as Sri Lanka defeated India in the opening T20 of the Nidahas Trophy tri-series by five wickets at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday. 

Riding on Perera’s 37-ball 66, the hosts chased down 175 in 18.3 overs.

Kusal Perera was in some mood tonight as he smashed Indian bowlers all around the park with pacer Shardul Thakur bearing the brunt of his assault, leaking 27 runs in his first over of the night. 

The Sri Lankan struck him for three straight fours followed by a six over mid-off. 

Stunned by the hiding, Shardul ended up bowling a waist-high no-ball and then was creamed for two more fours. Sri Lanka sprinted to their fifty in 3.4 overs and by the time Powerplay was over, had scored 75/2.

 Perera reached his half-century off 22 deliveries – his eighth in the format. By the time he was stumped, Sri Lanka needed just 48 runs from seven overs. 

Yuzvendra Chahal and Shardul then bowled some tight overs between them to make the chase interesting but Thisara Perera (22*) and Dasun Shanaka (18*) wiped off the arrears comfortably to seal two points. 

Earlier, Dhawan hit 90 off 49 to guide India to a challenging total after they lost two wickets inside two overs. Captain Rohit Sharma (0) and Suresh Raina (1) fell cheaply after being sent in by Sri Lanka. Then Dhawan and Manish Pandey (37) got together to repair the early damage with a solid 95-run stand for the third wicket.