India’s T20I Series Win Over Sri Lanka Fueled by Jaiswal and Surya’s Pyrotechnics

With nine balls remaining in the rain-shortened second T20 International match on Sunday, India defeated Pakistan by seven wickets with nine balls remaining after captain Suryakumar Yadav and batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal showcased their diverse repertoire of shots.

Suryakumar, the new captain, and head coach Gautam Gambhir had the best possible start to their careers as the Indian team outperformed Sri Lanka in every aspect, behaving like real T20 World Champions.

Jaiswal (30 off 15 balls) and Suryakumar (26 off 12 balls) made a quick but deft chase of 78 in 8 overs, despite Shubman Gill’s absence due to a neck spasm and another format failure for the much-hyped Sanju Samson (0). This came after bowlers had restricted Sri Lanka to 161 for 9.

The Mumbai pair chose to pull out both the conventional and reverse sweep shots just as Maheesh Theekshana was beginning to appear threatening getting Samson with a carrom ball and squaring up Surya with a doosra.

The plan was to prevent confusion by preventing Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga from making off-target deliveries.

Rather, the Indian batters effectively utilized their reach to stifle the turn. When Surya and Jaiswal were removed, they had scored 39 runs in 3.1 overs, with seven fours and three sixes shared between them.

Hardik Pandya (22 not out off 9 balls) and Rishabh Pant (2 not out) had to finish the formalities in 6.3 overs to make Tuesday’s series decider meaningless.

After being comfortably situated at 130 for 2 in 15 overs, the host team lost as many as seven wickets for 31 runs in their final 30 balls after Surya called right earlier in the day. His bowlers then performed a duplicate performance on subsequent days.

Charith Asalanka’s team lost momentum after scoring 80 in the first ten overs and was in a position to accelerate. Pandya’s (2/23 in 2 overs) change of pace and Ravi Bishnoi’s (3/26 in 4 overs) fast googlies proved to be the difference. The team managed just 81 runs in the back 10.

With two wickets apiece, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh also contributed.

This came after veteran southpaw Kusal Perera (53 off 34 balls) and Pathum Nissanka (32 off 24 balls) put on 54 runs for the second wicket in six overs to lay the groundwork, only to have hitters chase them and fritter it away.

All-rounders Dasun Shanaka (0) and Hasaranga (0) played careless strokes as the Indian bowlers tightened the noose around the Lankan hitters, desperate to break free. The scowl on interim head coach Sanath Jayasuriya’s forehead was evident.

After reaching 130 for 2 in 15 overs, Sri Lanka had their second consecutive middle-order collapse in which they lost four wickets in ten deliveries and were never able to recover.

Gambhir’s backroom brainstorming helped Surya with his bowling strategies, as evidenced by the way he kept Bishnoi out of the attack. Bishnoi appeared to struggle against the Sri Lankan top-order when more right-handers were attacking his wrong-un.

Beginning with the youthful Riyan Parag (0/30 in 4 overs), he instructed him to attack the stumps with sporadic turns despite his five boundaries and ten dot balls. Meanwhile, Axar Patel (2/30 in 4 overs) persisted in his wicket-to-wicket dart-like accuracy.

The ball gripped off the surface and traveled at a reasonable speed, confusing batters as to whether to change their stance or advance.

When Bishnoi arrived, the adjustment he had made the night before—pacing his googlies differently for each person—was quite successful. Nissanka received the fastest googlies, Shanaka received them somewhat slower, and Hasaranga received them flat and low.

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