India beat Sri Lanka by 69 runs in the second T20 International in Ranchi on Friday, to draw level in the three-match series.
Shikhar Dhawan (51 off 25) smashed his maiden fifty in T20 Internationals to fire India to 196/6 and the home team’s strong batting effort came despite Thisara Perera’s hat-trick in the penultimate over of the innings.
The other notable performances in the Indian innings came from Rohit Sharma (43 off 36), Hardik Pandya (27 off 12) and Suresh Raina (30 off 19).
Sri Lanka could never recover from a poor start and ended at 127/9 in 20 overs.
The visitors made a mess of the steep chase by losing their first three wickets for 16 runs. Star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin struck in the first legitimate ball of the innings with Dhoni pulling off a split second stumping to send back Tillakaratne Dilshan. Ashwin had started his spell with two wides.
Old horse Ashish Nehra had Seekkuge Prasanna on the very first ball of his opening spell before inducing an edge from opener Danushka Gunathilaka to leave Sri Lanka tottering.
Chamara Kapugedera (32) and captain Dinesh Chandimal (31) shared a brisk 52-run stand for the fourth wicket before Ravindra Jadeja got rid of them in successive balls to dash all hopes of a Sri Lankan comeback.
