Sri Lanka vs India, 1st T20I, Jul 27, India tour of Sri Lanka, 2024
A 43-run win to kickoff the new era under SKY & Gambhir. The Indian bowlers were put under some pressure by the Lankan top-order but they came back strongly in latter part of the innings. Hasaranga was economical and Pathirana picked four wickets but the hosts were very sloppy in the field. Can they come up with a better performance and level the series? Tune in tomorrow for the second T20I – same time and same venue. Until then, goodbye and good night… Most POTM awards in T20Is 16 – Suryakumar Yadav (69 mats)* 16 – Virat Kohli (125) 15 – Sikandar Raza (91) 14 – Mohd Nabi (129) 14 – Rohit Sharma (159) 14 – Virandeep Singh (78) Remember, Dinesh Karthik will answer your questions after the 3rd T20I vs. Sri Lanka! Send them in using #heyCB on X to be featured in our next episode. Suryakumar Yadav | Player of the Match: They were playing a good brand of cricket from ball one. They were keeping the tempo, credit goes to them. We know how the wicket plays in the night. We were fortunate that there was no dew. The way we played in the World Cup, that reminded us that the game was still too far. (Left-right combination to be persisted?) Whatever works for the team, we’ll take the call. Charith Asalanka: We were not up to the mark in the powerplay, but in the latter part, we came back pretty strong. Some stage, we thought they might get to 240, we did well. Little disappointed with the way the middle-order batted, we could have done better. (On the balance of his side) It’s an experiment, this is the way we should go in the future. Shubman Gill: Not really (panicked). We spoke about having good communication and we knew we just needed one wicket (when SL were 140/1). It is great batting with him (Jaiswal) and we complement each other. Our style is different, our plan is simple – assess the conditions and then take on the bowlers. When you are opening the innings, see how the pitch is behaving and play accordingly (that’s the plan). 22:43 Local Time, 17:13 GMT, 22:43 IST: India take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with a pretty big win. It was set-up by their top-four batters who powered them to a total of 213. The World Champions were the firm favourites at the halfway stage but the Sri Lankan batters did put up a fight. Chasing a big total, Nissanka got off the blocks quickly but Mendis overtook him after the powerplay as the Sri Lankan openers scored at close to 10 RPO. Arshdeep broke the 84-run opening stand in the ninth over as he dismissed Mendis with a knuckle ball. That didn’t hamper Nissanka as he notched up a fifty and kept finding boundaries. He was involved in another half-century partnership with Perera and Sri Lanka needed 74 runs off the last six overs with nine wickets in hand. That’s when Axar put a spoke in the hosts’ wheel with a double-wicket over. Sri Lanka couldn’t recover from that as they lost wickets in a heap (lost their last nine wickets for 30 runs). Riyan Parag to Madushanka, out Bowled!! Cleaned up! India win by 43 runs. Pushed through quick, looks like the googly, Madushanka clears his front leg to swing across the line and misses it altogether to hear the death rattle. Madushanka b Riyan Parag 0(1) Riyan Parag to Madushanka, THATS OUT!! Bowled!! Dilshan Madushanka, right handed bat, comes to the crease Riyan Parag to Theekshana, out Bowled!! Second wicket for Riyan Parag! With a slip in place, Parag bowls it very full following a backing away batter. Theekshana yorks himself in the process and the ball ricochets onto the stumps off the cue end of the bat. Theekshana b Riyan Parag 2(5) Riyan Parag to Theekshana, THATS OUT!! Bowled!! Riyan Parag [1.0-0-5-1] is back into the attack Siraj to Asitha Fernando, no run, yorker length, Fernando backs away and jams it to mid-off Asitha Fernando, right handed bat, comes to the crease Siraj to Pathirana, out Caught by Axar!! Full delivery, Pathirana takes the aerial route with a lifted back leg. No timing whatsoever and he chips it towards mid-on where Axar backpedals and reverse-cups it. Pathirana c Axar b Siraj 6(7) Siraj to Pathirana, THATS OUT!! Caught!! Siraj to Pathirana, 4 runs, yorker, Pathirana manages to dig it out. Theekshana keeps running while an off-balance Pathirana sends him back. Siraj gets to the ball, turns around and has a shy at the stumps at the non-striker’s end. Misses the target and SKY coming in from mid-off fails to collect it cleanly. To make matters worse he deflects it away from the mid-on fielder. The ball dribbles away to the fence Siraj to Theekshana, 1 run, length ball, heaved to deep midwicket off the inner edge Siraj to Pathirana, 1 run, 131kph, very full, driven to mid-off for a non-existant single. No direct hit and even Siraj fails to gather the throw