Sri Lanka level Covid-hit T20 series against India after Colombo thriller

Hosts clinch four-wicket win in final over of second T20

Sri Lanka's Dhananjaya de Silva, right, celebrates with his teammate Chamika Karunaratne after Sri Lanka won by the second T20 by four wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, July 28, 2021.

India's Navdeep Saini holds his arm in pain as Shikhar Dhawan consoles him in Colombo on Wednesday.

India's Kuldeep Yadav celebrates with his teammate after the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Minod Bhanuka.

India's Rahul Chahar, right, celebrates the wicket of Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga.

India's Sanju Samson celebrates after the dismissal Sri Lanka's Dasun Shanaka.

India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar drops a catch in Colombo.

Sri Lanka's Minod Bhanuka plays a shot during the second T20.

India's Varun Chakravarthy is congratulated by teammates for taking the wicket of Sri Lanka's Sadeera Samarawickrema.

Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga and captain Dasun Shanaka celebrate after the dismissal India's Devdutt Padikkal.

India's Sanju Samson dives back into the crease.

Sri Lanka's Wanindu Hasaranga, right, celebrates taking the wicket of India's Devdutt Padikkal.

India's cricket captain Shikhar Dhawa is dismissed by Sri Lanka's Akila Dananjaya.

Disciplined bowling and Dhanajaya de Silva's unbeaten 40 helped Sri Lanka level the three-match T20 series with a four-wicket win over India in the Covid-19 delayed second T20 on Wednesday.

Chasing 133 for victory, Sri Lanka depended on an unbeaten 28-run seventh-wicket partnership between De Silva and Chamika Karunaratne, who made 12, to reach their target with two balls to spare in Colombo.

De Silva kept his nerve in the 34-ball knock after Sri Lanka were in trouble at 105-6 and along with Karunaratne, who hit a timely six in the penultimate over, helped the hosts level the three-match series at 1-1.

Sri Lankan bowlers, led by Akila Dananjaya, kept India down to 132-5 after the tourists fielded four debutants following virus positive Krunal Pandya and eight of his close contacts forced to sit out, which was postponed hours before the scheduled start on Tuesday.

Dananjaya, who bowls a mix of finger spin and wrist spin, returned figures of 2-29 including the key wicket of skipper Shikhar Dhawan, bowled for 40.

The left-handed Dhawan put on a brisk 49-run opening stand with debutant Ruturaj Gaikwad (21) and carried on in the same vein with Devdutt Padikkal (29), also playing his first T20 on what seemed a sluggish pitch.

But Wanindu Hasaranga bowled the left-handed Padikkal in the 16th over with his leg-spin as India found it tough to push the run rate.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson and debutant Nitish Rana also failed to boost India's total as they fell to Dananjaya and pace bowler Dushmantha Chameera respectively.

Avishka Fernando was out early for 11 off pace bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the Sri Lankan chase, but Minod Bhanuka hit a brisk 36.

Spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy hurt the middle-order with key strikes including skipper Dasun Shanaka for three before De Silva hit back and completed the win.

The third and deciding T20 is on Thursday at the same venue.

All the matches are being held at the R. Premadasa Stadium, without spectators as Sri Lanka battles a surge in pandemic cases.