- Sri Lanka took a 1-0 in the three-match T20 series against India after beating the men in blue by five wickets in the 1st T20 at Pune.
- Kasun Rajitha and Dashun Shanaka took three wickets each for Sri Lanka.
- Senior players Dinesh Chandimal (35) and Chamara Kapugedara (25) strung an important partnership of 39 runs.
India’s winning streak in T20 internationals came to an embarrassing end after a heavily depleted Sri Lanka pulled off a five-wicket victory to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Put into bat on a lively track, which had a fair amount of bounce and seam movement, India were bundled out for a meagre 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) strung an important partnership of 39 runs.
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 the home team get past 100.
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.
When Sri Lanka batted, they lost a few wickets in between but the target was too small to defend. Milinda Siriwardana struck 21 off 14 balls as he finished the match with a boundary.
There was no dearth of effort from the Indian bowlers with Ashish Nehra (2/21 in 3 overs) and Ashwin (2/13 in 3 overs) got a couple of wickets each but it was the failure of the batsmen that hurt India the most.
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