The new year could not have started any better for the Indian Cricket Team and players as India geared up for the three match T20I series against Sri Lanka under the leadership of Hardik Pandya who has now gotten quite used to the tag of being the Indian Captain.
Toss | India vs Sri Lanka First T20I 2023 | Sri Lanka’s Tour of India:
Hardik Pandya won the toss at the Wankhede and decided to bowl first. Hardik said at the toss that he had become used to the tag of Indian Captain as he has captained India in the T20Is since the end of last years ICC World T20.
Sri Lanka: 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Mendis (wk), 3 Dhananjaya de Silva, 4 Charith Asalanka, 5 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 6 Dasun Shanaka (capt), 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Chamika Karunaratne, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Dilshan Madushanka, 11 Kasun Rajitha
1 Ishan Kishan, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Sanju Samson (wk), 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Deepak Hooda, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Shivam Mavi, 10 Umran Malik, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal
Hardik Pandya revealed at the toss that India will be handing over the debut caps to Shubman Gill and Shivam Mavi. Gill is a talented opening batsman who has done well for India in the Test Matches and the ODIs while Mavi has drawn praises in the IPL, where he plays for the Gujrat Titans franchise.
Hardik Pandya mentioned at the toss about the challenge that he wanted to face after choosing to bat first. The batters dud face some challenges as Shubman Gill departed for only 7 runs in the third over of the play. The wickets of the number-1 ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson dented India’s batting as they were reeling at 46/3 in 7 overs.
It looked like the wicket was slightly on the slower side and the ball stuck in the surface. Thus, coming onto the bat a bit slower than usual.
Captain Hardik Pandya and the sensational Ishan Kishan steadied the innings and took India to 77 runs in 10 overs. Both Kishan and Hardik got out in the next five overs as India were again reduced to 94/5 in 15th over.
This brought Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel to the crease. The two all-rounders batted well to take India to 162/5 by adding 68 runs in the last 35 balls. Indian finished their innings in a comfortable
Sri Lanka had a slow start to their chase as they were 2 down for 35 by the end of powerplay. At the halfway mark they were 66/4. Thus, requiring another 98 runs to win. However, Dasun Shanaka nearly took his side with his 45 runs innings in 27 balls. He received good support from Hasaranga and Chamika Karunaratne.
Hasaranga scored 21 while Karunaratne made 23 valuable runs.
Sri Lanka needed 29 runs in the last two overs. Karunaratne made 16 runs in the 19th over of the innings. Thus, needing only 13 from the last over. However, Axar Patel held his nerves to give India a two-run win.
It was an entertaining game of Cricket between Sri Lanka and India.
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