Nidahas Trophy 2018, Sri Lanka vs India: Hits and Misses
The Nidahas Trophy between Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and India got off to an unexpected start at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday (March 6).
The hosts came up against an Indian side devoid of stars like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and took full advantage of their absence to clinch the game by 5 wickets.
Dinesh Chandimal won the toss and chose to bowl first. His team did well to restrict India to an average total of 174-5 in 20 overs. Sri Lanka got off to a blistering start in the chase and raced off to 92-2 in the first eight overs. Rohit Sharma's Indian side could never really pull it back thereafter and ended up on the losing side of the tie.
#5 Hit: Shikhar Dhawan
In the last couple of months, Shikhar Dhawan has been in imperious form in limited-overs cricket. After shining in both ODI as well as T20I cricket on the South African tour last month, the left-handed batsman has carried that form seamlessly into the Nidahas Trophy as well.
He missed out on a well-deserved century by ten runs in the first game of the tri-series. He looked in supreme touch throughout the innings and scored 90 off just 49 deliveries with a strike rate of over 183.
The Indian opener is criticized often for batting at a relatively slow strike-rate in T20I cricket. However, he silenced his naysayers with his knock in Colombo, wherein he spanked the Sri Lankan bowlers around the park for as many as 12 boundaries (6 fours and 6 mammoth sixes).