‌SL vs IND | Pathirana's four-for in vain as all-round India earn maiden win under coach Gambhir

SportsCafe Desk
no photo

India earned their first win under coach Gautam Gambhir’s tutelage as they beat Sri Lanka by 43 runs in the first T20I. Pathum Nissanka’s 79 and Pathirana’s four-for failed to to surmount a 214-run target as Riyan Parag’s three-fer and batters' aggressive intent sealed the deal for the Men in Blue.

Brief Scores: IND: 213/7 [Surya: 58, Pant: 49; Pathirana: 4/40] beat SL: 170  [Nissanka: 79, Kusal: 45; Parag: 3/5 ] by 43 runs. 

Luck favored Sri Lanka’s new skipper Charith Asalanka during the toss and sent the Indian contingent to bat first. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill started from where they left off in Zimbabwe as the duo tonked the opposition bowlers left, right, and centre. They were 36/0 halfway through the field restrictions before 15-run overs each from Asitha Fernando and Dilshan Madushanka culminated in a 74-run powerplay. However, Gill departed on the last ball of the sixth over and his partner quickly followed suit, leaving Suryakumar Yadav and Rishab Pant fresh on the crease. While the former continued the assault with a 26-ball 58, the introduction of Matheesha Pathirana helped Lanka peg back the Indians with Surya and Hardik Pandya’s wickets coming in the space of 19 balls. With the score reading 192/4 in 18 overs and Pant going strong, Pathirana outsmarted Riyan Parag and the wicketkeeper-batter in the next over to claim his four-for. However, a six on the last ball by Axar steered India to 213/7 in 20 overs.

In response, Sri Lanka kicked off their chase on a high after a couple of watchful overs. Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka charged after the Indians, gathering 55 runs inside the powerplay. The assault continued till the ninth over when Arshdeep Singh removed Mendis for 45. With Sri Lanka reaching 99 in ten overs, the opener switched gears, helping extract 41 runs in the next four overs before Axar Patel cleaned up Nissana (79) and Kusal Perera in the 15th over, followed by Ravi Bishnoi getting Charith Asalaka. The hosts required 56 off the last four overs but Lanka lost four wickets in the next 17 balls to curtail the equation to 44 needed off seven balls. Riyan Parag cleaned up the tail in the final overt to leave Sri Lanka short by 43 runs.



Injured

Ended it with wicket

Did it well

Unpredictable game

Pretty big win

Death overs

Smiling coach

Unbelievable

Good fight

Captain fantastic









Get updates! Follow us on

laught0
astonishment0
sadness0
heart0
like0
dislike0

Comments

Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions

0 Comments