New captain Suryakumar Yadav led from the front with a breathtaking half-century as India comfortably defeated Sri Lanka by 43 runs in the T20 International opener to begin the Gautam Gambhir era with a victory in Pallekele on Saturday. It was Indian captain Suryakumar’s 26-ball 58 and an opening blitzkrieg of 74 runs in just six overs between openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill that took India to 213 for 7. Despite a good batting effort from the Sri Lankans to the day 15, The Indian bowlers did well enough to bowl out the home team for 170 in 19.2 overs.
The Indian bowlers did very well at the back, utilizing the slowness of the track to give the team a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The spinners – Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and newcomer Riyan Parag – captured six of the 10 wickets.
From 149 for 2, Sri Lanka lost seven wickets for just 21 runs as the last quarter of the match was dominated by the Indian bowlers after a listless first 15. Kusal Mendis (45 off 27 balls) and Pathum Nissanka (79 off 47 balls) were not as brutal as their Indian counterparts, but close enough to raise the wrinkles on new coach Gautam Gambhir’s brow as they spared no bad balls, achieving at least one if not two limits per balance.
The opening stand of 84 runs was finally broken by Arshdeep Singh when Mendis failed to pick the slowest.
However, Nissanka didn’t miss a beat as Hardik Pandya (0/41 in 4 overs) was clearly not in his element as he consistently missed the length, making it difficult for the new captain to look for options.
Pandya, who was recently overtaken for the national captaincy, is always more comfortable with a good sixth bowling option, which was not there.
Axar Patel (2/38 in 4 overs) was very flat initially but made breakthroughs when it mattered most, putting all his experience into practice.
Ravi Bishnoi (1/37 in 4 overs) is slowly becoming very predictable with hardly any leg breaks to surprise the batsmen.
The right-handers knew the deliveries would come to them and got in line to maneuver the wrist spinner.
Jasprit Bumrah’s absence was evident and it was only the marker’s pressure that helped the ‘Men in Blue’ prevail in the end when Axar’s arm pass freed Nissanka. He also brought on Kusal Perera (20) in the same over as the match swung decisively in India’s favour.
Once Bishnoi ended the period with the wicket of rival captain Charith Asalanka, India completely gained control.
Skipper Suryakumar played a calculating shot as he gave the inexperienced Riyan Parag (3/5 in 1.2 overs) the 17th over and removed Kamindu Mendis to justify his captain’s faith. The ever-improving Arshdeep (2/24 in 3 overs) also took his share of scalps as Riyan finished the process without much delay. Earlier, Suryakumar was quick and brutal in equal measure on his first day in charge as the Indian top order plundered Sri Lanka’s bowling to post a commanding total after being put into bat.
In his first match as permanent captain of India’s T20 team, Suryakumar made a firm statement with a brilliant knock, maintaining his aggressive approach that has made him the best batsman in the world.
While Suryakumar was at his dominant best as he hit eight fours and two sixes in his 20th half-century, the foundation for a big score was laid by young stars Jaiswal (41 off 20 balls) and Gill (34 off 15 balls) in a 74-run opening stand in the powerplay.
Rishabh Pant (49 off 33 balls) struggled initially but did well to end just one short of a half-century with some audacious shots both in front and behind square.
If Jaiswal’s approach was a little muscular, Gill showed his art, bleeding the Lankans with thousands of cuts.
The refreshing part was Gill’s approach in the first game under the new coach, where he didn’t exactly employ the safety-first approach.
Gill (34 off 15 balls) was playing a stroke too many on the final ball in the powerplay, but by then India had scored 74, their highest total in the first six overs this season.
Jaiswal failed to read Wanindu Hasaranga’s well-disguised googly as the left-hander played for the conventional leg-break, bringing captain Surya and Pant together.
Suryakumar played his usual inside-the-line shot over fine leg for six and four. He was lucky to survive as he also fell while trying to repeat the shot and also got a four in the process.
The team’s century came in 8.4 overs as the Indian captain didn’t let the momentum slow even when Pant was struggling to center the ball.
After Suryakumar was adjudged by a Matheesha Pathirana yorker, the last overs saw Pant finally break the shackles when a helicopter shot from Asitha landed in the stands and was followed by a boundary.
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