Colombo [Sri Lanka], July 26 (ANI): Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked four while Deepak Chahar scalped two wickets as India defeated Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the first T20I on Sunday.
Indian bowlers got the job done without any trouble as the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series. India bundled out Sri Lanka for 126 in the 19th over.
Chasing 165, Sri Lanka got off to a decent start scoring 20 in the first two overs. However, Krunal Pandya dismissed opening batsman Minod Bhanuka in the third over to put the hosts on backfoot.
Sri Lanka were 46/1 after six overs and were going good in the chase before they suffered another jolt. Yuzvendra Chahal cleaned up Dhananjaya de Silva to give India a breakthrough.
In the next over, Bhuvneshwar struck to help India bounce back in the game as he dismissed Avishka Fernando.
Charith Asalenka kept Sri Lanka‘s hopes alive as he hit regular boundaries and sixes. He stitched a vital stand with Ashen Bandara before Hardik Pandya dismissed the latter.
Sri Lanka needed 61 in 6 overs and Deepak Chahar picked two wickets in his over to dent hosts’ all hopes. With wickets falling at regular intervals, Sri Lanka fell 39 runs short of the target.
Earlier, Dushmantha Chameera and Wanindu Hasaranga picked two wickets each as Sri Lanka restricted India to 164/5.
Put in to bat first, India got off to a bad start as debutant Prithvi Shaw departed for a golden duck. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Sanju Samson revived visitors’ inning as they brought 50 runs inside the powerplay.
However, Sri Lanka again pulled things back as they dismissed Samson in the seventh over. Dhawan then along with Suryakumar Yadav took India’s score to the 100-run mark in 12 overs and brought up the fifty-run partnership.
Just when things started looking easy, India lost both Dhawan and Suryakumar in consecutive overs.
In the end, Ishan Kishan smashed 20 runs off 14 balls to help India reach 164 in the allotted 20 overs.
Brief Scores: India 164/5 (Suryakumar Yadav 50, Shikhar Dhawan 46; Dushmantha Chameera 2-24 ); Sri Lanka 126 (Charith Asalanka 44, Avishka Fernando 26; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-22). (ANI)
