Team India outplayed Sri Lanka in the first T20I in Colombo on Sunday to go 1-0 up in the three-match series. It was a tremendous performance from the visitors, who started the T20I leg after winning the ODI series 2-1. India defended their total of 164 runs by packing Sri Lanka for 126 to record a victory by 38 runs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the chief architect behind India’s phenomenal bowling. The senior pacer picked up a four-wicket haul to demolish the Sri Lankan batting line-up. He was pretty well assisted by Deepak Chahar, who claimed a couple of scalps. Other bowlers, such as Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Varun Chakravarthy, also shined and managed to bag one wicket apiece.
Mystery spinner Chakravarthy made his debut for India and finished with impressive figures. He picked up his maiden wicket in the form of Sri Lankan skipper Dasun Shanaka. However, much of the credit goes to wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan, who displayed amazing skills to stump the Lankan captain.
It all happened on the fourth ball of the 18th over when Chakravarthy bowled a quicker delivery outside off-stump. Shanaka looked to tap it around covers but got beaten by the pace and losing his balance. Ishan saw the opportunity and removed bails in a flash to sent back Shanaka.
Here is the video:
https://twitter.com/im_maqbool/status/1419361352389255169
In the match, Indian captain Shikhar Dhawan and middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav played crucial knocks to help their side reach a competitive total. While Dhawan fell four runs short of his fifty, Surya reached his half-century. Ishan, who showed tremendous wicketkeeping skills, played a quickfire 14-ball 20 runs knock during India’s innings.
Dhawan was largely impressed by the whole bowling unit as he heaped praises on his bowlers after the match.
“I feel we played quite well after losing early wickets. It was about one or two boundaries; we knew we could get going. We knew our spinners would do the job on that wicket. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) bowled well, so was KP (Krunal Pandya). Everyone stood up, and even Varun, too, playing his first match, did well, giving a few runs and got the wicket,” said Dhawan at the post-match presentation.
