When the openers bat out the opposition at the halfway stage of a T20 contest, excitement remains at a premium. In response, if the top-order comes apart, the result becomes a foregone conclusion.
This is exactly how the script panned out at the Ekana Stadium here on Thursday after Sri Lanka chose to chase. Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma laid the foundation with a 111-run stand and Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 28-ball 57 provided the late flourish in what ended as an emphatic 62-run victory for India.
