Nidahas Trophy 2018: Kusal Perera’s 66 guides Sri Lanka to win vs India

Riding on Kusal Perera’s blistering fifty, Sri Lanka beat India by five wickets in the opening game of the Nidahas Trophy 2018 in Colombo.

Kusal Perera blasted a 22-ball fifty, the second fastest by a Sri Lankan player in Twenty20 Internationals and his eighth overall as Sri Lanka beat India by five wickets in the opening game of the Nidahas Trophy 2018 in Colombo. (India vs Sri Lanka, Nidahas Trophy 2018 T20 - highlights)

Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera celebrates scoring a half century against India during their T20 cricket match in Nidahas Trophy in Colombo. (AP)

Following Shikhar Dhawan’s brilliant 90 off 49 balls which boosted India to 174/5, Sri Lanka looked to be aggressive but they lost Kusal Mendis cheaply to Washington Sundar. Perera stepped up and got off the mark in style by slog sweeping Sundar for a six over deep mid wicket.

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The third over of the innings, bowled by Shardul Thakur, witnessed carnage. In the first ball, he swatted a short ball over mid wicket, guided a slightly wide ball past the gap at backward point and drilled a full ball past long off for hat-trick of boundaries. With Thakur’s length messed up, the bowler bowled a slow ball which was mauled over deep mid wicket for a six. After smashing a high full toss to sweeper cover for the fourth boundary in the over, Kusal blasted another loose ball to the deep extra cover fence.

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The 27-run over from Thakur completely shifted the momentum to Sri Lanka and he continued on his aggressive ways by whacking Yuzvendra Chahal straight down the ground to near his landmark. In the first ball of the eighth over bowled by debutant Vijay Shankar, Perera slapped a short ball to cover and notched up the landmark.

Kusal’s fifty has given Sri Lanka hope of ending their Twenty20 hoodoo against India.