The Indian bowlers put on a show by restricting the visitors to just 136. Veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/9) gave the home team a great start by scalping the wickets of both the openers in the powerplay.
Yuzvendra Chahal (1/11), Ravindra Jadeja (1/28), and Venkatesh Iyer (2/36) then continued to build on the pressure created by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. They strangled the run flow of the Sri Lankan batters in the middle overs.
Sri Lankan vice-captain Charith Asalanka (53* in 47 balls) played a sedate knock and remained unbeaten. The talented southpaw Asalanka did bring up his third T20I half-century. However, he failed to play aggressively, which was the need of the hour in such a steep chase.
Chamika Karunaratne (21) hit a few lusty blows but Venkatesh Iyer outfoxed him with a clever ball to terminate the visiting team’s hopes.
With this win, Team India have extended their unbeaten winning streak in T20I cricket to 10. They are also yet to lose a fixture with Rohit Sharma at the helm as a full-time skipper.
Fans felt that the Sri Lankan team was no match for a rampant Indian side, which looked lethal even in the absence of several regular players. They heaped praise on the Indian team for their clinical performance in the first T20I and also trolled the Sri Lankan batters for surrendering without putting up a fight.
Here are some of the best reactions:
“He constructed that innings well” - Rohit Sharma on Ishan Kishan’s knock
Rohit Sharma was happy with Ishan Kishan’s return to form and admitted that he enjoyed watching him bat from the non-striking end. He said:
The Indian skipper was also pleased with Ravindra Jadeja’s performance in his comeback game following the injury break. Sharma revealed that he intends to give the southpaw more chances to bat higher up the order, given his vast improvement in the batting department over the past few years. He explained:
Team India and Sri Lanka will now move north to Dharamshala, where they will face off in the second T20I of the series on Saturday.
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