In the Ind VS SL 1st ODI, India registered a comfortable victory against Sri Lanka to go 1-0 in the series. While Prithvi Shaw played a quickfire Sehwag-esque opening inning, debutant Ishan Kishan brought up his fifty and celebrated in style. In the end, newly-appointed skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Suryakumar Yadav saw India gallop to the victory with 7 wickets to spare.
Details
Winning the toss first, Sri Lanka opted to bat first and surprised fans who are now used to captains opting to chase after winning the toss. Sri Lanka started off well and survived the first power-play easily. Opening duo of Avishka Fernando and Minod Bhanuka looked at ease against the opening bowling pair of Deepak Chahar and experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The duo looked rooted on the crease till the 9th over as they added 49 runs on the inning board.
Kul-Cha Duo Returns– Takes 2 Wickets Each
The magical run of Fernando and Bhanuka was broken by Yuzvendra Chahal who scalped the wicket of Fernando at 33 off 35. Fernando wanted to drive the ball outside the covers but found Manish Pandey waiting to catch the ball. After the first wicket, the flow of runs didn’t stop and Bhanuka Rajapaksa looked in decent form in his debut.
However, the young debutant got greedy and threw his wicket away as he went on to heave it on the side and found a nicely placed Shikhar Dhawan on mid-wicket. In the same over, Kuldeep struck again and sent Bhanuka packing. Bhanuka looked to be batting cautiously but found Prithvi Shaw on the slip waiting to salvage a mistake.
Sri Lankan Train Restricted with Regular Wickets
From 49/1, the Sri Lankan team was brought back to its senses at 89/3 and then couldn’t make a comeback at any stage of the game. While all the players coming after Bhanuka got to a decent start, they couldn’t convert the inning and nor could give their side the momentum it desperately needed. Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka and Chamika Karunaratne stitched decent partnership amongst themselves and made 38, 39 and 43 respectively.
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Karunaratne’s quickfire 43 helps SL pose 262 runs in 50 overs
In the end, Karunaratne tried to shift gears and went after a wicketless Bhuvneshwar Kumar and displayed some too-late-too-soon fireworks. Sri Lanka managed a total of 262 runs in their 50 overs.
No Kohli, No KL Rahul, No Rishabh Pant, Debutants Take Over
On any other day, a total of 263 may look 40 runs short of a challenging total. But with no Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, the total seemed a tad menacing for the in-experienced Indian batting side.
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Shaw Emulates Sehwag, India Gallops to 50
However, young-blood Prithvi Shaw made the act of opening look like a child’s play. He emulated a Virendra Sehwag and played some applause worthy shots from the first over. The Indian side didn’t give any breathing room to the Sri Lankan pacers and galloped to the 50-run mark in the 6th over itself.
Birthday Boy Ishan Kishan Lets his Intentions Known
The Sri Lankan side got some relief after he scalped the wicket of Shaw, but the 21-year-old had done enough damage, scoring a 24 ball 43-run inning. Next came debutant Ishan Kishan who let his intentions know by slamming a maximum and a boundry in back-to-back deliveries. He continued his rich vein of form and stitched together a jubilant partnership with the new skipper Shikhar Dhawan.
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Kishan Falls on 59, Hits 8 boundaries, 2 Sixes
The birthday boy soon reached his half century and made the record of scoring a 50 on both his ODI and T20 debut. Much like the Sri Lankan middle order, he too wasn’t able to convert his knock and got out at 59. He had shown no respite to the bowling side and had slammed 8 boundaries and 2 maximums.
Dhawan Takes Charge, Avoids Domino Effect
Thanks to the partnership between Dhawan and Kishan, India had already moved past half the target runs and still had more than 30 overs to spare. After Kishan’s dismissal, Dhawan took the charge and made sure that his team doesn’t drop like a house of cards. He first played cautiously with a rusty-looking Manish Pandey who scored only 26 runs and ate 40 balls in its pursuit.
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India Wins
After Pandey’s dismissal, Suryakumar Yadav came to the middle and stay not out in the end. He played 31 off 20 with 5 boundaries and with skipper Dhawan’s 86 off 95, he took his team home.
