Nidahas Trophy: Dhawan guides India to 174/5 against Sri Lanka

Colombo: Despite a flamboyant 90-run knock by Shikhar Dhawan, India could only post 174/5 on the board in the Nidahas Trophy opener against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa stadium here on Tuesday.

After being put in to bat first, India lost skipper Rohit Sharma (0 off 4) in the first over itself, while Suresh Raina (1 off 3), came in at No 3, also failed to do any good for the team.

India was looking in precarious situation at 9/2, when Dhawan and Manish Pandey stitched together a 95-run partnership for the third wicket which established India to a dominating position at 104/2.

Pandey, however, played an average inning of 37 runs off 35 deliveries with 3 fours and a six. He failed to capitalise on several bad deliveries which shifted the pressure on Dhawan.

Dhawan thrived under pressure and played his career-best inning of 90 runs off only 49 balls and decorated his knock with 6 fours and 6 sixes.

Rishabh Pant, who was given a chance today, disappointed as he could not in the manner he is regarded for. Despite being an extremely explosive batsman, he could only manage 23 runs off 23 deliveries with a four and a six. He got out trying to play a big shot on the last delivery of the inning.

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Dinesh Karthik did not get enough time to play a big knock but still he scored 13 runs off only 6 deliveries he faced with 2 boundaries.

Dushmantha Chameera was the pick of the bowlers as he bagged 2 wickets for 33 runs in his four overs, while Nuwan Pradeep, Jeevan Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka managed to get a wicket each. Mendis and Gunathilaka were economical as well in their spells. They conceded 21 and 16 runs, respectively, in three overs each.

This is not going to be easy for Sri Lanka to chase down a target as big as 175 runs but at one point when Dhawan was batting, India was looking to surpass the 200-run mark easily. So, the home team would be happy to restrict the world No 3 T20I side to 174 runs.