Thakur, Pandey fashion India's emphatic win
Thakur's career-best restricted Sri Lanka after Kusal's half-century; Pandey and Karthik's unbroken 68-run stand steered India home after a top order wobble
Thakur's career-best restricted Sri Lanka after Kusal's half-century; Pandey and Karthik's unbroken 68-run stand steered India home after a top order wobble
Scorer: Ranjith P | Commentator: Shashank Kishore
Before I sign off, here's some more quality reading for Indian sports fans. The marquee All England Championships start later this week and Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu will look to become the first Indian to win the women's singles title at the tournament. Read more here.
Shardul Thakur is the Player of the Match for his 4 for 27.
11.47pm The bowling that Pandey's referring to was largely thanks to the brilliant efforts of Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar. How this great game is a leveller. He went for 27 off an over the other night against Sri Lanka. Tonight, Thakur recorded his career-best figures. Sundar too was magnificent with his offspin, varying his pace and lengths to great effect. He's developed quite a skill, bowling in the powerplay too.
Manish Pandey, who finished unbeaten on 42, with a flash interview: Batting at No. 5, I think I should be there till the end to finish games. The bowlers came back very well after the first game. Well done to them for restricting this to 152. We didn't have too much batting after 6-7, so it was nice to have that stand with DK.
11.42pm On a pitch when the ball spun and gripped, India overcame early hiccups to make lightwork of this target. Karthik and Pandey, who seem under the pressure to score every time they walk out to bat, approached the situation with calm heads and played percentage cricket to bring the chase to within touching distance before finishing it off in style.
Shardul Thakur has responded impressively to a difficult start to the tournament in the latest example of the depth in India's pace resources
Thakur's career-best restricted Sri Lanka after Kusal's half-century; Pandey and Karthik's unbroken 68-run stand steered India home after a top order wobble
Variation is not just about bowling different balls but cleverly varying lengths too, says India left-arm fast bowler
Sri Lanka would still be hurting after the hiding their bowlers were handed by Bangladesh, but their in-form top-order is capable of testing India's resolve