It is one such start to the year where the men in blue have started on the right track. A clean sweep was obviously what most pundits would have predicted before the start of the T20 series, but India – even after all the experimenting – are these big bullies who just refused to be challenged. While the first T20I was abandoned even without a ball being bowled that was a massive disappointment to the huge crowd that was thronged in Barsapara Cricket stadium, Guwahati, we all have heard of wet outfield playing the spoil sport, but this time it was something rare, with the surface seeing two wet patches at both ends. So after the delay of nearly 3 hours the game was called off.
The caravan was shifted to Indore for the second T20I that was played on 7th Jan, 2020 where it was almost a one sided encounter, the match was completed with 15 balls to spare. The Srilankans posted a mere 142 on the board for the loss of 9 wickets, where all the three top order batsmen failed to convert the start they had & the middle order collapsing, while the cameo of Dhananjaya and Hasaranga ensured that there was a respectable total on the board. Replying to which, India started off pretty well and wiped off close to 50% of the target in 9 overs, with Dhawan reaching the 30’s in his comeback match and Rahul scoring a quick fire 45 off 32 balls. Wanindu Hasaranga scalped both the openers within a span of two overs. While Iyer and Kohli continued the good start that was given by the openers, Iyer went for the glory shot and fell, but that only resulted in the Indian skipper capping off the match in style. Overall, India comprehensively out-batted and out-bowled Srilanka in this match. Navdeep Saini was awarded the player of the match for his economical bowling (2/18 in his quota of 4 overs).
The teams traveled further westwards to Pune for the final T20I on the 10th of jan,2020. The toss was won by Srilanka and they opted to bowl first. The MCA was all set to see the high scoring first inning where again the openers went on to give a brilliant start where both Rahul and Dhawan fell after reaching their respective 50’s. Then there was a wobble as Kohli promoted the Samsons and Pandeys before him. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, once that was done Pandey and Thakur took 34 runs off the final 2 overs to ensure 200 was breached. In response, the powerplay killed the chase for the visitors. Or no, the first two overs killed the chase. The top four fell for single digit inside the first six, Mathews and Dhananjaya kept the hopes alive with a few blows, and then the long tail fell apart finishing off the match in just 15.5 overs the Lankans were wrapped up for 123. Shardul Thakur was awarded the MOM for his cameo with the bat ( 22 off 8) and for the superd bowling performance ( 2/19 in his 3 overs).
Navdeep Saini was awarded the MOS for his excellent bowling throughout the series who took 5 wickets in the 2 matches that was played. That’s that then. Comprehensive and easy. Not at all subtle. The BCCI is clearly running out of property space to store the trophies. Lets hope atleast the Aussies show up with some fight.
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