The first T20 in the Visually-impaired Cricket series between Sri Lanka and India concluded with the hosts registering a comfortable victory by 39 runs at Pune.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to field first. The hosts got off to a steady start with the openers posting a half century stand within just 5 overs. The middle order kept the tempo up as the Lankans struggled to contain the world champions. However, the match defining innings came from P Vankateswara who came down the order and scored a quick fire 50 off just 35 deliveries which helped the hosts to post a mammoth 190 in their 20 overs. With the ball for the Lankans, Sampath bagged 2 for 25 while the rest of the bowlers failed to create an impact in the game.
The reply wasn’t an easy one for the visitors. They needed a solid foundation to set up the run chase, but it wasn’t meant to be as they found themselves in dire straights at 36 for 3. The wickets kept falling at regular intervals and that prevented the Lankans from scoring freely. The lone fighter for the visitors was K Silva who scored a hard-fought half century, but his efforts were all in vain as they ended at 151 for 9 in their allocated 20 overs. For the Indians, D Rao bagged 2 for 24 in his 4 overs to go with his cameo with the bat which earned him a well-deserved Man of the Match award. The 2nd T20 will take place tomorrow in Mumbai.
Brief scores
India 190/6 (20): R Venkateswara 50, D Rao 27, S Sampath 2/25
Sri Lanka 151/9 (20): K Silva 57, Priyantha Kumara 23, D Rao 2/24
