The limited overs action between Sri Lanka and India started on Sunday (18th July) with the first ODI of three-match series. As the hosts won the toss and elected to bat, all eyes were on Shikhar Dhawan to announce the playing eleven for the visitors.
Indian team went into this match with two front line pacers (Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar), two wrist spinners (Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal) and two all-rounders in Pandya brothers. The pair of “Kul-cha” is finally re-united for the “Men in Blue” after playing their last ODI together in 2019 World Cup.
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This series is a real test for the left arm chinaman as he has been out of action in white ball cricket for India and his IPL franchise. But the wrist-spinner showed his quality in the first innings, picking up 2 wickets in a single over to jolt the hosts after a decent start.
Kuldeep has been down in confidence after some poor outings and needed to be among wickets to find his rhythm again. The series acts as a final chance for him to perform and stay in the contention for upcoming T20 World Cup.
Seeing the spinner among wickets, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan tweeted that he is delighted to see Kuldeep Yadav among wickets again.
Coming to the match, Sri Lanka had a decent start but kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and in the end could only register a below-par total of 262/9, with the highest score of 43 not out by Chamika Karunaratne. For the visitors, Chahar, Chahal and Kuldeep bagged 2 wickets each while the Pandya brothers shared 1 each.
Chasing the total, Indian openers came out all guns blazing with plenty coming from Prithvi Shaw’s bat as he smashed 43 off just 24 deliveries, smocking 9 boundaries. The wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan, on his ODI debut, came in next and started at the same note and thus registering his maiden fifty. The other batsman came in and contributed but the captain, Shikhar Dhawan stood at the other end and took his team over the line, scoring 86 not out.
With 1-0 lead in the series, Team India will now be looking to win the second ODI as they meet on the same venue on Tuesday (20th July) and seal the series.
