Navdeep Saini Pic Credit: BCCI/Sony LIV
India played with their C team in second T2oI against Sri Lanka after 7 players were put into 7 days mandatory isolation. In lieu of this, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devdutt Padikkal, Chetan Sakariya, and Nitish Rana made their T20I debut. India also added their net bowlers into the squad for further strengthening of squad. At toss, Sri Lankan captain put India into bat where team managed to score mere 132 runs on a spin-friendly track with skipper Shikhar Dhawan being the highest scorer.
In reply, Sri Lanka got off to a bumpy start, losing in-form Avishka Fernando early in the innings. With his dismissal, Minod Bhanuka took the responsibility and took his side close to the total. Just when he was looking good at the crease, he threw his wicket away with middle-order of Sri Lanka getting exposed once again. However, Dhananjaya de Silva had different plans and held one end.
At the start of the 19th over, Sri Lanka needed 20 runs with 4 wickets in hand. De Silva and Karunaratne managed to score 12 runs off the over which assured them a victory. However, the penultimate over not only brought runs but also an injury to speedster Navdeep Saini.
On the fourth delivery, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a slow good length delivery to Karunaratne which the batsman tried to smash over the extra-cover fielder. Karunaratne threw his bat at it while Navdeep Saini, on the other hand couldn't time his jump to perfection and landed on his left shoulder. As soon as he landed on ground, le looked in serious pain and was eventually assisted by medical staff off the field.
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Sri Lanka level series 1-1
Sri Lanka registered a win in second T20I with two balls to spare; levelling the series 1-1. The final game between two sides is scheduled to be played on 29th July at R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. With Navdeep Saini likely to be missing the final T20I, one of five net bowlers will make debut for India.
