PUNE: India’s winning sequence in T20 internationals came to an embarrassing end tonight after a heavily depleted Sri Lanka pulled off an upset five-wicket victory to take 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Put into bat on a lively track, which had fair amount of bounce and seam movement, India were skittled out for a paltry 101 in 18.5 overs with rookie pace trio of Kasun Rajitha (3/29), Dashun Shanaka (3/16) and Dushmantha Chameera (2/14) doing bulk of the damage.
Sri Lanka reached the target with two overs to spare. Senior players Dinesh Chandimal (35) and Chamara Kapugedara (25) made useful contributions.
It turned out to be a blow for Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the team won 3-0 in the series Down Under to achieve the top rank in ICC table for shortest format.
If Rajitha blew away the top-order, it was Shanaka and Chameera, who decimated the middle and lower-order with only Ravichandran Ashwin with his unbeaten 31 helping home team cross the three-figure.
Such was the abject surrender by the Indian batsmen in the wake of extra bounce and moving deliveries that only Yuvraj Singh (10) and Suresh Raina (20) reached the double figures apart from Ashwin. (AGENCIES)
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