2024-07-28 00:16:20
After winning the T20 World Cup, the Indian team in the shorter version of cricket underwent a lot of changes. From the coaching staff to the leadership, the abundance of youth in the team; All in all, India is on the way to a new day in T20. However, the youth did not understand the absence of Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli in the first match after the World Cup.
India started the new day with a great victory against Sri Lanka on their own ground. Batting first, India scored 213 runs for 7 wickets. Sri Lanka were all out for 170 runs in the chase.
Suryakumar Yadav, the new captain, led from the front with the bat and became the man of the match. Young Ryan Parag showed charisma with the ball. India won by 43 runs in the first T20 match in Pallkele.
Sri Lankan captain Charith Asalanka won the toss and sent India into bat. Jaiswal-Shubhaman Gill proved him wrong and gave India a storming start. Both of them scored 74 runs in just 6 overs in the opening.
The duo broke Gill’s dismissal for 34 runs in the last ball of the power play Jaiswal, who scored 40 runs, also got in the way of Gill in the next ball. Suryakumar and Rishabh Pant are two new batsmen at the crease. At one end, Pant was holding on, while at the other end, Suryakumar hit four-sixes. He scored a fifty off just 22 balls.
Suryakumar got out after scoring 58 runs off 26 balls to break the 76 run pair. After that, India continued to advance with Pant’s bat. Pant got out after the team scored 200 runs. 49 runs from 33 balls came from his bat. Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh and Ryan Parag could not cross double figures. Akshar remains unbeaten with 10 runs off 5 balls. Mathisha Pathirana took 4 wickets with 40 runs for Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka got off to a great start chasing the target. Pathum Nisanka-Kushal Mendis brought 55 runs in the power play. Kushal got out after scoring 45 runs off 27 balls, breaking the opening pair. Despite the arrival of new batsman Kushal Perera, the pace of runs did not decrease. At the other end, Pathum was batting stormily. He was advancing with a 34-ball fifty.
Sri Lanka scored 140 runs in 14 overs. A bit of fear crept into the Indian camp then. But the bowlers were confident. Sri Lanka’s innings fell into disarray with Pathum’s dismissal off the first ball of the 15th over. Pathum scored 79 runs off 48 balls. After his dismissal, the island nation could score only 30 runs. Parag took 3 wickets with 5 runs in just 1.2 overs. Akshar Patel-Arshdeep Singh took 2 wickets.
Gautam Gambhir’s journey as a coach started with this match. His beginning also began with victory.