Lucknow: After being sent into bat, India put up a total of 199 for 2. The their top orders fired in unison. Ishan Kishan (89), Shreyas Iyer (57 not out) and Rohit Sharma (44) made a handsome contribution for India. The host set a massive 200-run target for Sri Lanka.
Ishan Kishan gave a glimpse of his potential with a 56-ball-89 as the bowlers joined the party in India’s clinical 62-run demolition of Sri Lanka in the first T20I. Rohit Sharma tooke a 1-0 lead in the three-game series in Lucknow.
The Lankas started the run chase in a wrong direction. Pathum Nissanka went off the first ball to Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Following that, they kept losing wickets. The asking rate just kept rising for them. It made it much tougher to put up a fight against India. Charith Asalanka gave the lone fight for Sri Lanka, remained unbeaten on 53 off 47 balls.
King Kishan
Ishan Kishan lived up his million dollar IPL tag with a storming innings filled with 10 hits to the fence and three over the fences. The 23-year-old moulded a 111-run innings for the opening wicket with skipper Rohit Sharma (44 off 32). Ishan Kishan showed aggression among the two openers. Kishan exploded in the third over. Chamika Karunaratne paid for erring in his line and length with three boundaries as India grabbed 15 runs from the over.Lahiru Kumara came up with good-pace. However, Ishan managed to show some good-looking shots. A pull on the front foot swept the ball over the ropes whereas other one a flicked across the mid-wicket boundary.
Praveen Jayawickrama was criticized with a four. Kishan deposited a short-ball from Chameera into stands. This brought up 58 runs from powerplay. Ishan was dropped by spinner Jeffrey Vandersay by his own in the 7th over.
Shreyas Iyer then grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Iyer smashed five fours and two sixes in 28 balls to take India to a huge total of 199.
Mighty Milestones
Indian captain Rohit Sharma surpassed Martin Guptill (3299) to become the highest scorer in all T20Is. With his innings of 44 he went to 3307.
Yuzvendra Chahal (67 wickets) went past Jasprit Bumrah as India’s top wicket-taker in T20Is.
This is India’s longest winning streak in T20Is which with a streak of 10 matches.
Blazing Bowling
Bhuveshwar Kumar (2/9 in 2 overs) and Venkatesh Iyer (2/36) pilot the Indian bowlers to provide the finishing touch. Sri Lanka was limited to 137 for 6 in 20 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal (1/11) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/28) claimed one wicket each.
Defending the total, Bhuvneshwar provided India the perfect start. In-form opener Pathum Nissanka (0) went-off the first ball of the innings. The other opener Kamil Mishara (13) went with a low score as well. However, India’s fielding was not up to the mark. Ventakesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer spilled chances off Kamila and Charith Asalanka in 3rd and 6th overs respectively. Luckily, it didn’t matter as the Lankan batters couldn’t make out of those chances prettyv well. Ventakesh got off from Janith Liyanage (11), as comeback man Ravindra Jadeja had Dinesh Chandimal (10) stumped in the 10th over. Sri Lanka went down to 51 for 4 in 10th over.
Skipper Dasun Shanaka’s (3) stayed six balls as Chahal overtook Bumrah to become India’s leading wicket taker (67) in T20Is.
Brief Score: India 199/2(20) – Ishan Kishan 89 (56), Shreyas Iyer 57* (28), Rohit Sharma 44 (32), Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/9 (2), Venkatesh Iyer 2/36 (3), Yuzvendra Chahal 1/11 (3).
Sri Lanka 137/6(20) – Charith Asalanka 53*(47), Dhusmantha Chameera 24*(14), Dasun Shanka 1/19 (2), Lahiru Kumara 1/43 (4)
India won by 62 runs
