India won the recently concluded T20I World Cup and they won in Zimbabwe too. Now, they started Sri Lanka tour with good win. Gautam Gambhir took over the job of Head Coach in this series. With Suryakumar Yadav becoming full time captain in T20Is for India, this series attracted more eyeballs than usual.
As Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired post World Cup, India needed to look at their best possible future T20I side, in this series. Well, the first T20I took off with Sri Lanka winning the toss and electing to field first. Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill(34) have put on 74 runs in the powerplay for the first wicket.
Jaiswal also got out soon scoring 40 runs. Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant started putting on a good partnership. Pant started taking singles and rotating strike. SKY started being aggressive and he hit 58 runs from 26 balls. By the time he got out, India looked good to put up 240-250 score on the board.
Pant took over the aggressor role after SKY got out and scored 49 runs from 33 balls. But rest of Indian batters fell for brilliance of Matheesha Pathirana(4/40). India could only score 213/7 in their 20 overs. With a huge score to chase, Sri Lanka teed off aggressively. Pathum Nissanka(79) and Kushal Mendis(45) started taking Indian bowlers to cleaners.
For the opening wicket, they both have put on 84 runs and set a great platform. But Kushal Perera could not continue momentum after Nissanka fell at 140/2 in the 15th over. Indian bowlers came back roaring and bowled out Sri Lanka for 170 in 19.2 overs. Surprisingly. Riyan Parag managed to pick 3 wickets in the fag end of the innings.
India won the match by 43 runs and started the T20I series with a handsome win. Suryakumar Yadav for his 58, has been adjudged as Player of the Match. Above all, two young stars of both nations proved their skills big time. Pathirana bowled a yorker at 151 kmph and Riyan Parag showcased his bowling skills in this match.
