India beats Sri Lanka by 39 runs in one-off T20

KANDY, Sri Lanka (AP) — Seam bowlers Ashok Dinda and Irfan Pathan shared seven wickets to lead India to a 39-run win over Sri Lanka in a one-off Twenty20 match on Tuesday.

Pathan, the left-arm seamer, gave India an ideal start taking the wicket of Tillakaratne Dilshan for a first-ball duck and went on to dismiss Upul Tharanga (5) and Mahela Jayawardene (26) to help dismiss Sri Lanka for 116 in 18 overs in defense of a meager 155 for three at Pallekele International Stadium.

Dinda returned match-best figures of 4-19 including three wickets in the final over. Pathan recorded 3-27.

Earlier, Virat Kohli continued his top form, scoring 68 for his maiden Twenty20 half-century. He scored two centuries and a half-century in the five-match one-day international series that India won 4-1.

Vice-captain Anjelo Mathews top scored for Sri Lanka and captain Jayawardene's 26 runs including five boundaries gave the host some hope.

Indian bowlers kept up the pressure, taking wickets at crucial times and Dinda, bowling the 18th over, polished off the tail to help dismiss the hosts for the lowest score in Twenty20 matches between the two sides.

Despite mediocre performances throughout the Indian tour, Jayawardene said that his team has not been as outplayed as the scorelines suggest.

"We played some good cricket, we had our chances and we did not capitalize on them. Today probably we didn't play to our potential at all," Jayawardene said. "As a team we need to be more responsible than this."

Jayawardene won the toss and opted to bowl and watched his seam bowler Eranga take two wickets for 30 to restrict India to 155 for three.

Kohli hit one six and 11 boundaries during his 48-ball innings, which is the highest score by an Indian batsman against Sri Lanka since Virender Sehwag's 64.

He and Ajinkya Rahane (21) shared 74 for the second wicket after Eranga removed Gautam Gambhir early for six runs.