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India lost the T20I series against Sri Lanka by a scoreline of 1-2 in Colombo. After winning the first T20I, the visitors lost nine players from their main squad. Krunal Pandya returned positive in his COVID-19 test, while eight others were detected as his close contacts.
As a result, India played the last two T20Is with an imbalanced playing XI. There were only five specialist batsmen in the match squad. The Sri Lankan team won the second T20I by a close margin, but in the final T20I, they crushed their neighbors.
Sri Lanka restricted India to 81/8 in the first innings and chased the score, losing only three wickets. Wanindu Hasaranga shone for the hosts as he picked up four wickets and scored 14 runs. Except Rahul Chahar, none of the Indian players could make an impact on the game.
Now that the third T20I between India and Sri Lanka is in the history books, let's have a look at some interesting stats emerging from the contest.
1. Shikhar Dhawan became the first Indian captain to record a golden duck in T20I cricket
Shikhar Dhawan had a forgettable end to his maiden T20I series as Indian captain. The southpaw got out on the first ball that he faced after winning the toss and electing to bat.
After Dushmantha Chameera dismissed him, Dhawan became the first Indian captain to lose his wicket for a golden duck in T20I cricket. Before Dhawan, six players had captained India in the shortest format of the game.
2. India recorded their lowest T20I total against Sri Lanka
Team India has rarely finished with totals of less than 100 in the T20I arena. However, the third T20I against Sri Lanka was a game that the Indian batsmen would love to forget.
Despite Kuldeep Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's contributions, India scored only 81 runs in their innings. While Yadav and Kumar ensured India did not register their lowest total in T20I cricket, they could not stop Sri Lanka from restricting India to their lowest total in T20Is against them.
3. Sri Lanka registered their maiden T20I series win against the Indian team
India and Sri Lanka played their first bilateral T20I series in 2009. Before this series, the Islanders had never been able to register a series win against the Men in Blue.
Sri Lanka ended their 12-year drought by winning the 3-match series 2-1. The hosts lost the opening game, but they bounced back and won the next two fixtures to secure the series in Colombo.
4. Shikhar Dhawan became the first Indian to lose his maiden T20I series as the skipper
As mentioned earlier, six players captained India in T20I cricket before Shikhar Dhawan. All of them recorded a victory in their maiden series as Indian T20I skippers.
Unfortunately, Dhawan could not accomplish that feat. One can say that luck did not favor Dhawan because he did not have nine players from his squad available for two of the three matches in the series.
5. Wanindu Hasaranga bowled the best spell on birthday in men's T20I cricket history
Wanindu Hasaranga will always remember his 24th birthday because he helped his team record a historic victory. Hasaranga dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Varun Chakravarthy to complete his four-wicket haul.
He registered the best bowling figures by any male player on his birthday. Interestingly, West Indies' female cricketer Anisa Mohammed recorded identical figures of 4/9 on her 23rd birthday in a match against Pakistan Women in 2011.
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