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Sri Lanka won the Women’s Asia Cup after Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama opposed India’s spinners in Dambulla. Later in the evening, in the second men’s T20I, India’s spinners trounced Sri Lanka in Pallakele, almost 100 miles away. With one game remaining, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel, and Riyan Parag combined for 12-0-86-5 to cause another collapse in Sri Lankan cricket and assist India in winning the three-match T20I series.
Sri Lanka stormed out of the blocks after being selected to bat first, amassing 54 for 1 during the powerplay. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis had the right to smash the ball over the top because it wasn’t swinging for Mohammed Siraj or Arshdeep Singh.
Mendis was removed by a slower ball from Arshdeep, but Kusal Perera and Nissanka continued to bat with determination and ping the boundaries during the powerplay.
Perera fired short-arm punches reminiscent of Sanath Jayasuriya whenever the Indian bowlers strayed into his hips. When he sped to a half-century in 31 balls, Jayasuriya himself was cheering from the dugout.
India continued to use Axar and the other four specialist bowlers, and they supported Hardik and Parag to split the role of fifth bowler. Parag produced a vicious turn and bounce after going 3 for 5 on Saturday. The broadcaster once displayed a chart that displayed the average turn that India’s spinners were able to accomplish. Compared to Axar’s 3 degrees and Bishnoi’s 1 degree, Parag had produced an average of 3.7 degrees of turn.
Parag demonstrated his ability to handle the ball once more despite failing to pick up any wickets. He even permitted Hardik to be held back until the fourteenth over by Suryakumar.
In the end, Bishnoi returned to bowl Dasun Shanaka and Hasaranga for ducks. By forcing Perera to hole out for 53 off 34 balls, Hardik did his part, and Rinku made amends by holding onto a superb catch.
Axar, who took the wickets of Theekshana and Ramesh, conceded just eight runs in the 20th over, only the third time in his T20I and sixth in his T20 career. Sri Lanka retreated from 130 for 2 to 161 for 9.
Rain caused the game to start 45 minutes later than scheduled, returning three balls into India’s chase and leaving them to chase a rescheduled goal of 78 in eight overs.
When Theekshana removed Samson with a skidder and then defeated Suryakumar’s outside edge with a carrom ball, Sri Lanka had a glimmer of hope. But Hasaranga found it difficult to hold onto the damp ball, as Jaiswal outplayed the legspinner.
After the rain break, Suryakumar played a number of sweeps with the ball slipping onto the bat until he was caught by Pathirana. With nine balls remaining, Hardik ended the pursuit and had Hasaranga nursing figures of 2-0-34-1.