The brothers Pathan clinch India victory

Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan led India to a thrilling three-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the Twenty20 match at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday.

Irfan hit a six and a four in the 19th over bowled by Dilhara Fernando to bring India’s run-chase on the track.

Irfan hit a six off the second delivery of the last over to seal an emphatic win for India.

Yusuf hit two sixes and a four in his 10-ball 22, while Irfan's knock of 33 runs came off 16 balls.

The Pathan brothers came together when India lost three quick wickets in 3 overs to be reduced to 132/7 in 16 overs.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (13) was dismissed when he was clean bowled by Malinga Bandara.

In the next over, Rohit Sharma (4) hit to long on for Jehan Mubarak to take the catch and give Sanath Jayasuriya his first wicket and in the next over, Malinga dismissed debutant Ravindra Jadeja (5) for the seventh Indian wicket.

India lost Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina in successive overs to be at 101/4 in 11 overs.

India lost the fourth wicket when Raina hit to deep mid-wicket for Indika de Saram to take the catch off Malinga Bandara. Raina's 35-run knock came off 27 balls and was studded with 5 fours and a six.

India were reduced to 81/3 in in 8.1 overs when Jehan Mubarak dismissed Yuvraj Singh with his first delivery.

Yuvraj went to the back foot to cut, insted edged the delivery into the hands of captain and wicket-keeper Tillakaratne Dilshan. Yuvraj hit 2 sixes and 3 fours in his knock of 32 runs that came off 21 balls.

Yuvraj and Raina added 67 runs for the third wicket at a time when India were reeling at 14/2 in 1.1 overs after losing Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in quick succession.

Gambhir tapped the last delivery of the first over to backward point and Sehwag (1) called for a quick single but the right-hander was unable to beat the direct hit from Chamara Kapugedera.

On the first delivery of the next over, Gambhir mistimed a hit high up in the air for Kaushalya Weeraratne to take the catch at mid-on off Thilan Thushara. Gambhir hit 3 fours in his 6-ball 13.

Earlier, Sri Lanka scored 171 runs for the loss of four wickets in their 20 overs.

Tillakaratne Dilshan slammed his maiden T20 half-century to power Sri Lanka post a challenging total.

Dilshan scored 61 runs before he was dismissed by Ishant.

Dilshan mistimed a hit to mid-off for Suresh Raina to take the catch after hitting a six and 7 fours in his magnificent knock of 61 runs that came off 47 balls.

Yusuf Pathan took 2 wickets in 2 overs to reduce Sri Lanka to 113/3 in 14 overs.

Pathan claimed his second wicket when Chamara Kapugedera tried to pull but edged the delivery up in the air. Sehwag took a fine catch at point.

Kapugedera hit 3 fours in his 9-ball 16.

Yusuf dismissed Jehan Mubarak (13) by taking a simple return catch.

Irfan Pathan struck in his first over when he dismissed opener Sanath Jayasuriya to put Sri Lanka at 59/1 in 6 overs.

Jayasuriya mistimed a hit over mid-off where Ishant Sharma took back a couple of steps and jumped to take a one-handed catch using his height to good effect.

Jayasuriya and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan gave Sri Lanka a blitzkrieg start scoring 53 runs in 5 overs.

Jayasuriya was given a reprieve when he was dropped by Irfan Pathan in the first over of the match itself.

The fiery start came after Dilshan won the toss and elected to bat first.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan.

Sri Lanka: Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chamara Silva, Chamara Kapugedera, Jehan Mubarak, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Thilan Thushara, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Malinga Bandara.

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