T20: Surya Yadav fifty powers India win

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Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and opted to bowl against India in the 1st T20 of the three match series.

Prithvi Shaw and Varun Chakravarthy made their T20 debuts for India.

Lanka had two debutants of their own – middle-order batter Charith Asalanka and allrounder Chamika Karunaratne.

Sri Lanka squad

 Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (wk), Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (capt), Ashen Bandara, Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana, Akila Dananjaya, Dushmantha Chameera

India squad

Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy

India start badly

India received an early blow in the form of Prithvi Shaw, who lost his wicket off the first ball of the match. 

Dushmantha Chammera’s (2/24 in 4 overs) out-swinger found the edge of Shaw’s bat.

However, India recovered to post 164/5 from their 20 overs.

Thanks to Suryakumar Yadav, who completed an impressive half-century off just 34 balls.

Accompanied by Shikhar Dhawan’s 46, he added 62 runs for India’s third wicket.

There was also a fifty-plus partnership between Dhawan and Sanju Samson.

Sanju Samson (27 off 20 balls) hit a great six and looked good enough for more before Wanindu Hasaranga trapped him leg before with a googly.

Hasaranga was the pick of the Lankan bowlers getting 2 wickets for 28 runs off 4 overs.

Krunal provides the breakthrough

Sri Lanka lost their first wicket as Krunal Pandya dismissed Minod Bhanuka for 10.

Next, Yuzvendra Chahal cleaned up Dhananjay de Silva cheaply with a peach of a delivery.

It was a beautifully flighted delivery that made Dhananjaya play inside the line and get castled. 

Avishka Fernando (26) also paid for slowness of the track as he tried to pull Bhuvneshwar and was caught by Samson.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned to dismiss the dangerous Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana and Dushmantha Chameera in the final four overs to guide India to a comprehensive win.

He finished with the game’s best figures of 4 for 22 and received the Man of the Match award.

The tide turned between the end of the 5th and 16th over as Sri Lanka scored only 69 runs, and lost five wickets.

The Lankans folded up for just 126, giving India a 1-0 lead.

India 164 for 5 (Suryakumar 50, Dhawan 46, Chameera 2-24, Hasaranga 2-28) beat Sri Lanka 126 (Asalanka 44, Bhuvneshwar 4-22, Chahar 2-24) by 38 runs

The second T20 international will be held on Tuesday followed by the third on Thursday, with both games also being played in Colombo.