India chase down SL to lead Twenty20 tri-series

COLOMBO, Mar 13 (AP): India led the Twenty20 tri-series after beating host Sri Lanka by six wickets with nine deliveries to spare in their rain-affected match on Monday.

After putting Sri Lanka into bat, India medium-pacer Shardul Thakur took a career-best 4-27 to restrict Sri Lanka to 152-9.

In the chase in a match reduced to 19 overs per side by rain, India was led home by an unbroken 68-run stand for the fifth wicket between Manish Pandey (42) and Dinesh Karthik (39).

India has one more win than Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and can clinch a place in the final on Sunday when it plays Bangladesh on Wednesday.

The experienced Karthik joined Pandey at 85-4. Pandey hit three fours and one six in his 31-ball knock, while Karthik required 25 deliveries for his 39 with five fours.

India needed 13 runs off the last two overs and Karthik hit consecutive boundaries in the penultimate over bowled by Nuwan Pradeep before bringing up the victory with a single to covers.