COLOMBO, July 18: Ishan Kishan celebrated his 23rd birthday with a dazzling half-century on debut while Shikhar Dhawan, in his first match as captain, anchored India to a walk-in-the-park seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the opening ODI here on Sunday.
On a track that offered slow turn, the inexperienced Sri Lankan batters splurged like millionaires, throwing away one wicket after another but still managed to get 262 for nine, which wasn’t going to be enough against India’s batting might.
And it certainly didn’t, with the target being achieved in just 36.4 overs.
Prithvi Shaw, with his new found swagger in 50-over cricket, butchered the Sri Lankan pacers during his brief stay by hammering nine boundaries in a 24-ball 43.(PTI)
That set the pace for Kishan to come in and hit a six off the very first delivery he faced an followed it up with a square driven boundary. The short Mumbai Indians man then decided to use his bat like a sledgehammer, scoring the second fastest ODI fifty on debut — off 33 balls — to kill the contest inside the first 20 overs.
He did live dangerously getting reprieve twice but his 59 off 42 balls with eight fours and two sixes certainly makes him a strong contender to make it to the final list of 20 for the ICC T20 World Cup.(PTI)
Veteran Dhawan, who very wisely dropped anchor and let the young guns express themselves, then took over to finish off the match in a professional manner with an unbeaten 86 off 95 balls.
All those years of experience did come in handy as he played second fiddle to Shaw in an opening stand of 58 in 5.3 overs and during a second-wicket partnership of 85 with Kishan in only 12.2 overs.
But once Kishan was out and with Manish Pandey, (26 off 35 balls) playing to save his international career, scratching around, Dhawan started playing his shots to not let the momentum slip away at any stage, hitting six boundaries and a six.
Pandey’s selfish approach, trying to score his own runs at the team’s expense, didn’t yield him any great results as another debutant, Suryakumar Yadav, showed his flamboyance, smashing a quickfire 31 off 20 balls.(PTI)
Sri Lanka
Avishka Fernando c Manish b Chahal 32
Minod Bhanuka c Prithvi b Kuldeep Yadav 27
Bhanuka Rajapaksa c Dhawan b Kuldeep Yadav 24
Dhananjaya de Silva c Bhuvneshwar
b Krunal Pandya 14
Charith Asalanka c Ishan Kishan b D Chahar 38
Dasun Shanaka c Hardik b Chahal 39
Wanindu Hasaranga c Dhawan b D Chahar 8
Chamika Karunaratne not out 43
Isuru Udana c D Chahar b Hardik 8
Dushmantha Chameera run out (Bhuvneshwar) 13
Extras: (LB-3, W-12, NB-1) 16
Total: (For nine wickets in 50 Overs) 262
Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-85, 3-89, 4-117, 5-166, 6-186, 7-205 , 8-222, 9-262.
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 9-0-63-0, Deepak Chahar 7-1-37-2, Hardik Pandya 5-0-33-1, Yuzvendra Chahal 10-0-52-2, Kuldeep Yadav 9-1-48-2, Krunal Pandya 10-1-26-1.
India
Prithvi Shaw c Fernando
b Dhananjaya de Silva 43
Shikhar Dhawan not out 86
Ishan Kishan c M Bhanuka b Sandakan 59
Manish Pandey c Shanaka b Dhananjaya de Silva 26
Suryakumar Yadav not out 31
Extras18 (b 0, lb 5, w 12, nb 1, p 0)
Total (3 wkts, 36.4 Ov) 263
Fall of Wickets: 1-58, 2-143, 3- 215.
Bowling: Dushmantha Chameera7-0-42-0, Isuru Udana 2-0-27-0, Dhananjaya de Silva 5-0-49-2, Lakshan Sandakan 8.4-0-53-1, Charith Asalanka 3-0-26-0, Wanindu Hasaranga 9-1-45-0, Chamika Karunaratne 2-0-16-0.
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