LUCKNOW, Feb 24: Ishan Kishan gave a glimpse of his enormous potential with a 56-ball-89 before the bowlers joined the party in India’s clinical 62-run demolition of Sri Lanka in the first T20I to take a 1-0 lead in the three-game series here on Thursday.
This was also India’s longest winning streak in T20Is which has now gone up to 10 matches.
Asked to take first strike, Kishan was unstoppable at the top as he blasted a blistering 56-ball 89, while Shreyas Iyer provided the late charge with an unbeaten 57 as India racked up a massive 199 for 2.
The Indian bowlers, led by Bhuveshwar Kumar (2/9 in 2 overs) and Venkatesh Iyer (2/36), then provided the finishing touch, limiting Sri Lanka to 137 for 6 in 20 overs.
Yuzvendra Chahal (1/11) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/28) also claimed one wicket each.
The victory extended India’s winning streak to 10 T20 games.
For Sri Lanka, Charith Asalanka regained some confidence with an unbeaten 47-ball 53 but he didn’t get any support from the other batters.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma became the highest scorer in all T20Is after his innings of 44 as he surpassed Martin Guptill (3299) to now go onto 3307.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (67 wickets) have now gone past Jasprit Bumrah as India’s top wicket-taker in T20Is.
Defending the total, Bhuvneshwar provided India the perfect start as he cleaned up in-form opener Pathum Nissanka (0) of the first ball of the innings before returning to remove the other opener Kamil Mishara (13) cheaply.
India’s fielding was not up to the mark with ventakesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer spilling chances off Kamila and Charith Asalanka in 3rd and 6th overs respectively but it didn’t matter as the Lankan batters couldn’t use the chances.
Ventakesh got rid of Janith Liyanage (11), while comeback man Ravindra Jadeja had Dinesh Chandimal (10) stumped in the 10th over as Sri Lanka were down 51 for 4 in 10th over.
Skipper Dasun Shanaka’s (3) stay lasted six balls as Chahal overtook Bumrah to become India’s leading wicket taker (67) in T20Is.
With the required run-rate hovering over 20, Asalanka then provided some respectibility to the chase.
Earlier Kishan, who failed to capitalise on his starts in the preceding white-ball series against West Indies, finally lived up to his multi-million dollar IPL tag with a whirlwind innings studded with 10 hits to the fence and three sixes.
The 23-year-old from Jharkhand forged a 111-run innings for the opening wicket with his skipper Rohit Sharma (44 off 32) to put India on course for a formidable total after being invited to bat first.
Iyer then grabbed the opportunity with both hands, smashing five fours and two sixes in 28 balls to take India to a huge total.
Ishan Kishan was the aggressor among the two openers as he exploded in the third over, making Chamika Karunaratne pay for erring in his line and length with three boundaries as India amassed 15 runs from the over.
Lahiru Kumara bowled with a lot of pace but Ishan came up with two good-looking shots — one a pull on the front foot which went over the ropes and the other one a flick across the mid-wicket boundary.
Left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama was next hammered for a four, while a short ball from Chameera was deposited into the stands as Kishan continued his demolition act which yielded 58 in the powerplay.
Sri Lanka was also guilty of dropping Ishan with spinner Jeffrey Vandersay spilling him on his own bowling in the 7th over.
The left-hander soon went on to score his second T20 fifty as India amassed 98 off 10 overs.
Playing second fiddle, skipper Rohit ran the ones and twos hard and picked up two fours along with a cracking slog-sweep over mid-wicket for a six.
Six runs short of a half-century, Rohit was done in by a slow delivery from Lahiru Kumara in the 12th over as as Sri Lanka tried to put breaks.
Ishan Kishan got another reprieve when he had edged one from Vandersay and the ball made its way to the boundary.
After two tight overs, Kishan slapped one over long-on for a maximum and then sent Lahiru Kumara across the third man and deep mid-wicket boundaries as India racked up 17 runs.
Sri Lanka’s agony was escalated by their pedestrian bowling in the death overs as Shreyas Iyer took them to the cleaners with the last three overs yielded 44 runs. (PTI)
Scoreboard
India
Rohit Sharma b Lahiru Kumara 44
Ishan Kishan c Janith Liyanage b Shanaka 89
Shreyas Iyer not out 57
Ravindra Jadeja not out 3
Extras (w-6) 6
Total (For 2 wkts, 20 Overs) 199
Fall of Wickets: 1-111, 2-155
Bowling: Dushmantha Chameera 4-0-42-0, Lahiru Kumara 4-0-43-1, C Karunaratne 4-0-46-0, Jayawickrama 2-0-15-0, J Vandersay 4-0-34-0, Dasun Shanaka 2-0-19-1.
Sri Lanka
Pathum Nissanka b Bhuvneshwar 0
Kamil Mishara c Rohit b Bhuvneshwar 13
Janith Liyanage c Samson b Venkatesh Iyer 11
Charith Asalanka not out 53
Dinesh Chandimal st Ishan Kishan b Ravindra Jadeja 10
Dasun Shanaka c Bhuvneshwar b Chahal 3
Chamika Karunaratne c Ishan Kishan b Venkatesh Iyer 21
Dushmantha Chameera not out 24
Extras (w-2) 2
Total (For 6 wkts, 20 Overs) 137
Fall of Wickets: 1-0, 2-15, 3-36, 4-51, 5-60, 6-97
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-0-9-2, Jasprit Bumrah 3-0-19-0, Harshal
Patel 2-0-10-0, Yuzvendra Chahal 3-0-11-1, Venkatesh Iyer 3-0-36-2,
Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-28-1, Deepak Hooda 3-0-24-0.
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