Colombo: Indian bowlers made a superb comeback helping the ‘Men in Blue’ register a 38- run victory over Sri Lanka in the first T20I of the three-match series on Sunday(July 25). It was indeed a day for the bowlers for both sides at the R Premadasa Stadium which though offered much for the batters.
India, despite a good start and a fine 34-ball 50 from Suyakumar Yadav were restricted to 164/5. In reply, Sri Lanka looked set on the course for a win until the visitors clawed their way back into the game thanks to their splendid bowling performance including Deepak Chahar’s twin strike in an over to send the entire home side back to the pavilion for 126.
Earlier, despite losing Prithvi Shaw for a first-ball duck, India retained their pace in the first few overs on the back of skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Sanju Samson (27) who took the score to 50 in the opening six overs. Suryakumar Yadav, who had a brilliant ODI series, looked no different in this match too.
Together with Dhawan, he stitched a 62-run stand setting India on course for a big score. The visitors looked good at 113/2 in 14 overs. However, Lankan bowlers made the comeback picking up Dhawan (46) and Yadav in quick succession dampening India’s rhythm.
The middle-order found it hard to shift the gears after that. Hardik Pandya’s disappointing stint with the bat continued as the visitors managed just 50 runs in the last six overs. Dushmantha Chameera was the pick of the bowlers for the home side with his 2/24 especially at the death giving no room to the Indian batters.
Sri Lanka started the chase steadily through Aviska Fernando (26) but lost wickets in a chunk. Charith Asalanka started an onslaught and was taking the game away from India with a swashbuckling 26-ball 44. Chahar shifted the pendulum in the 16th over picking up two wickets including the vital one of Asalanka.
With the asking rate getting out of Sri Lanka’s reach Yuzvendra Chahal (1/19) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/22) tightened the screws towards the end getting India over the line.
Brief Scores: India 164/5 (Suryakumar Yadav 50, Shikhar Dhawan 46; Dushmantha Chameera 2/24, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/28) beat Sri Lanka 126 all out in 18.3 overs (Charith Asalanka 44; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4/22, Deepak Chahar 2/24) by 38 runs.
