Visitors India started their tour of Sri Lanka in style, winning the first ODI by seven wickets with 80 balls remaining. After winning the toss, the hosts elected to bat first at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo. While Sri Lanka’s top and middle order could not convert their starts into a long innings, a late flourish from their no. 8 player Chamika Karunaratne helped them post a target of 263 runs in 50 overs. In reply, a second-string India chased down the target with 80 balls remaining. Sri Lanka’s bowling department looked rusty, and none of the bowlers could contain the visiting batsmen. There were three debutants in the game – Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav for India and Bhanuka Rajapaksa for Sri Lanka.
The second of the three-match ODI series will be played on Tuesday, July 20 at the same venue.
Here are a few talking points from the 1st ODI between India and Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka’s late flourish
Sri Lanka made a decent start to their innings, and at one point were on 49 for the loss of no wickets in nine overs. However, India’s spinners snatched the momentum from Sri Lanka in the middle overs, before a late flourish from Chamika Karunaratne and Dushmantha Chameera rescued the hosts. Karunaratne scored 43 runs off 35 balls with the help of a four and two sixes in what was only his fourth ODI. He hit two sixes and a four, including a helicopter shot over deep midwicket in the last over bowled by fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Chameera, on the other hand, hit pacer Hardik Pandya for a four and six off consecutive balls in the penultimate over. Thanks to the late assault, the hosts managed 32 runs off the last two overs.
Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav shine on debut
Birthday boy Ishan Kishan carried forward the momentum after Prithvi Shaw’s dismissal, smashing his very first delivery for a big six. He scored a fantastic 42-ball 59 on his ODI debut, and in doing so, joined the list of a few records as well. He is now the second batsman on the list of most percent of runs scored through boundaries in a 50+ knock on ODI debut. The list is headed by England’s BC Hollioake, who had scored 79.36% runs via boundaries in his debut game. Kishan, who batted at a strike rate of 140.47, scored 74.57% of the runs via boundaries, which included a hat-trick of fours. The swashbuckling batsman also became the first Indian to score a fifty on both T20I and ODI debut and his explosive approach was a delight to watch. The other debutant – Suryakumar Yadav didn’t get much time on the field after India’s top-order had already done most of the job. The middle-order batsman scored a 20-ball 31 to finish India’s chase in 36.4 overs.
Shikhar Dhawan gets to 6000 ODI runs
Opening the batting for India, the skipper saw the chase through from start to finish and brought up his 33rd ODI fifty while also getting to 6000 ODI runs. Dhawan is now the fastest Indian opener to reach the 6000 run mark in ODI cricket, going past former India captain Sourav Ganguly (160 innings) and Rohit Sharma (200 innings). Dhawan took 140 innings to reach the landmark. On the all-time list, Dhawan is now on the fourth position after Hashim Amla (126), Virat Kohli (136) and Kane Williamson (139).
Leaving out the number of innings in which the runs were scored, Dhawan is now the fifth Indian opener to cross 6000 runs in ODIs behind Sachin Tendulkar (15310), Sourav Ganguly (9146), Virender Sehwag (7240) and Rohit Sharma (7238).
India’s spinners dominate the middle overs
India’s spinners Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal were excellent in the middle overs, where Sri Lanka could not manage a single 50-run partnership. Chahal and Kuldeep took two wickets apiece while Krunal kept the run rate in check. Chahal claimed a wicket off his very first ball, sending back a well set Avishka Fernando for 33 runs in the 9th over. This was followed by two wickets from Kuldeep – who dismissed debutant Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Minod Bhanuka in the 16th over. Chahal struck again in the 43rd over, dismissing Dasun Shanaka for 39. And all that while, the elder Pandya brother bowled at an economy of 2.60 runs per over. It was one of the biggest talking points from the 1st ODI between India and Sri Lanka.
Prithvi Shaw’s fearless batting
Opening batsman Prithvi Shaw was awarded the Player of the Match award for his 24-ball 43, which set the tone for India’s easy win. The young batsman scored nine fours in his innings, including three consecutive fours. But while ducking a short delivery off Chameera, Shaw was brutally hit on his helmet, which slowed down his game and he was dismissed in the next over. In the post-match ceremony, Shaw admitted that he lost focus after being hit on the helmet. Shaw is now only one of the two Indians have scored more than 40 runs in the first six overs of an ODI game, the other being former India opener Virender Sehwag.
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