1st T20 : Gambhir faster in fastest fifty but Sangakkara's Sri Lanka win. -> Itsonlycricket, is only cricket!

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1st T20 : Gambhir faster in fastest fifty but Sangakkara's Sri Lanka win.

Filed under SLinInd09

Kumar Sangakkara played a real captain's innings

List of fastest fifties in twenty20 cricket got rewritten twice, once in each innings as India and Sri Lanka matched eached other stroke per stroke in this first twenty20 in series of two, at VCA ground in Nagpur today.

Gautam Gambhir's 19 ball fifty is now equal 2nd fastest ever with David Warner of Australia but his departure brought Indian innings in disarry and most of middle order batsmen disappointed. Promoting himself to number 3, captain MS Dhoni and then vice captain Yuvraj Singh played rash shots little too early and lost their wickets. Youngsters Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma followed without any fight as Sri Lankan fielders maintained the pressure.

Ashish Nehra's 2 sixes punchuated 22 off 13 balls kept home team meaninglessly in the game until the last few overs but match was over much before that.

Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara made the 7th fastest half century in twenty20 cricket, off just 23 balls but more importantly, Lankan middle order made sure they stuck around with their captain to play out all the available 20 overs. Also, Indian fielders dropped plenty of catches which was a catalyst for visitors to win their first game of the tour after losing test series convincingly.

The Scores :-
Sri Lanka 215 for 5 in 20 ovs
K Sangakkara 78, C Kapugedera 47*
India 186 for 9 in 20 overs
G Gambhir 55, V Sehwag 26, A Nehra 22
Full Scorecard : Ind v SL 1st T20, Nagpur.