India versus Sri Lanka 1st T20I: Bowlers help India register a commanding win
Despite India falling short of runs, the Indian bowlers showed great skills to register a comfortable win in the first T20I match played at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Sunday.
Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and decided to
field first. It was an ideal start by Chameera as he produced a great delivery
to get rid of Prithvi Shaw off the very first delivery. After the loss of an early
wicket, Shikhar Dhawan and Sanju Samson took the attack on Akila Dananjaya hitting
them for boundaries. Samson was brilliantly caught by Fernando but did not yield
any results. Both Indian batsmen smashed Akila Dananjaya for runs before the
end of the first power play. At the end of the first six overs, India was 51 for 1.
Soon after the field restrictions, Hasaranga struck off his
first ball getting rid of Sanju Samson. Samson and Shikhar Dhawan added 51 runs
for the 2nd wicket. Surya Kumar Yadav looked in decent touch putting
pressure on Sri Lankan bowlers. On other hand, Dhawan also hit boundaries
taking on Akila Dananjaya. Despite some rains, the umpires decided to go on
with the play. Both batsmen showed great intent putting Sri Lankan bowlers under
pressure. Shikhar Dhawan was caught at deep backward square leg trying to clear
the boundary. Dhawan and Surya Kumar Yadav added 62 runs for the 3rd
wicket.
Surya Kumar Yadav completed fifty off just 33 balls and was
soon dismissed by Hasaranga as substitute Ramesh Mendis took a good catch. The
Sri Lankan bowlers did not allow Indian batsmen to score runs easily. Chameera
bowled a brilliant 19th over taking the wicket of Hardik Pandya. Ishan
Kishan was not able to time the ball as Sri Lankan bowlers kept tight lines and
lengths. India ended the 20 overs at 164 for 5.
Chasing 165 runs to win, it could have been an ideal start for
Team India as Hardik Pandya dropped a simple chance to get rid of Avishka
Fernando. Fernando was given out for a caught behind, but the decision was overturned
it did not hit anything. India earned the first breakthrough as Krunal Pandya
grabbed Bhaunka’s wicket providing an easy catch to Surya Kumar Yadav.
Avishka Fernando continued his impressive form with
attacking strokes. Making his T20I debut, Varun Chakravarthy bowled a superb 1st
over giving away just 1 run. At the end of the first six overs, Sri Lanka made
46 for 1.
After the field restrictions, Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed
Dhanajaya de Silva with a great leg break deceiving the batsman. Soon after,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar got rid of Avishka Fernando flicking the shot straight into the hands of Sanju Samson to put Sri Lanka under pressure. Chahal bowled another
great over to increase Sri Lanka’s run rate.
Asalanaka showed some great fight putting the Indian bowlers
under some pressure especially Hardik Pandya. Ashan Bandara struggled to time
and could not rotate the strike. Bandara could only make 9 off 19 balls. Bandara
and Asalanaka added 40 runs for the 4th wicket. Asalanaka provided
some hope for the hosts, but Chahar struck twice in quick succession getting
wickets of Asalanaka and Hasaranga to leave Sri Lanka on the mat.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed the inform Chamika Karunaratne taking
the inside edge onto the stumps. A superb piece of stumping resulted by Kishan
resulted in the debut wicket of Chakravarthy. Kumar ended the match by taking the wickets of Udana and Chammera to bowl out Sri Lanka for 126.
India 164 for 5 in 20 overs (Surya Kumar Yadav 50, Dhawan 46,
Chameera 2/24, Hasaranga 2/28) beat Sri Lanka 126 in 18.3 overs (Asalanaka 44,
Fernando 26, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4/22, Chahar 2/24) by 38 runs.
For his figures of 4 for 22, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was named the
man of the match. India takes 1-0 lead in 3 match series. The second T20I will
be played on the same ground on 27th July.
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