Bouncing back from their defeat in the final ODI, India outplayed Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the opening T20 International at the Premadasa Stadium on Sunday night, taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
A superb half-century by the in-form Suryakumar Yadav (50, 34b, 5×4, 2×6) and a 46-run knock (36b, 4×4, 1×6) by skipper Shikhar Dhawan helped India put up 164 for five as Sri Lanka put in a decent performance with the ball after electing to field first. However, a shoddy performance with the bat, bar Charith Asalanka, who smashed a quickfire 44 (26b, 3×6, 3×4) on his T20I debut, saw the hosts crash to 126 all out in the 19th over.
Asalanka showed some fight as he struck a few big blows, but once paceman Deepak Chahar had him caught at deep mid-wicket and then castled Wanindu Hasaranga in a double-strike in the 16th over, India had the game in the bag. While Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked four for 22, the pick of the Indian bowlers was leg-spinner Yuzuvendra Chahal, who bowled 10 dot balls while giving away just 19 runs in four overs.
The way he castled Dhananjaya de Silva with a ‘jaffa,’ which pitched near leg stump but went on to kiss the off stump, displayed the quality of this worldclass bowler.
As expected, India gave a maiden international cap to ‘mystery spinner’ Varun Chakravarthy, who showed a bit of promise while taking one for 28 in four overs.
Earlier, pacer Dushmantha Chameera and leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga bowled superbly, taking two wickets each as Lanka took the pace off the ball in damp conditions to keep India in check. Surya, though, continues to go from strength to strength. Having just been named the ‘Player of the Series’ in the ODIs, the Mumbaikar carried on with his sizzling form, smashing the Lankan bowlers as he added 62 for the third wicket in just 48 balls with Dhawan to help India shrug off losing Prithvi Shaw, who went for a firstball duck on his T20I debut, and Sanju Samson (27, 20b, 2×4, 1×6).
The only worry for India would be another poor show by allrounder Hardik Pandya, who failed to force the pace in a laboured 12-ball 10 in the slog overs and went for 17 in two overs, picking up a wicket. ‘Sky’ seems to be on top of the bowling from word go these days.
On Sunday, his second half-century in his first four T20I innings had all his trademark shots which make him such a dangerous batsman in limited-overs cricket.