IND vs SL 1st ODI: Dhawan, Ishan guides India to a comprehensive 7 wickets win over SL at Premadasa stadium

Xtra Time Web Desk: India’s second string side were too hot to handle for Sri Lanka as the visitors cruised to a comprehensive 7 wickets win in the first ODI with 80 balls to spare at the R Premadasa stadium in Colombo on Sunday. Shikhar Dhawan played a captain’s knock (86*) and debutant Ishan Kishan scored 59 to make the target of 262/9 look very easy. Prithvi Shaw too butchered the Sri Lankan pacers during his brief stay by hammering nine boundaries in a 24-ball 43.

Ishan Kishan celebrated his 23^rd birthday in style as he hit a six off the very first delivery he faced and followed it up with a square driven boundary. The Jharkhand wicketkeeper batsman 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 hit eight boundaries and two sixes in his 42 ball knock to make a strong about being picked for the final list of 20 for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Shikhar Dhawan made a winning start to his temporary captaincy stint as he remained unbeaten on 86 off 95 balls.

Manish Pandey looked a mis-match as he struggled to score 26 runs off 35 balls, playing selfish cricket trying to save his international career. Another debutant Suryakumar Yadav too smashed a quickfire 31 off 20 balls to tick the boxes. Apart from Pandey, the other performance that stuck out like a sore thumb was Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0/63 in 9 overs), who didn’t look penetrative enough. India’s bowlers were disciplined for the better part, with Kuldeep Yadav (2/48 in 9 overs) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/52 in 10 overs) showing signs of coming back to form.

It was heartening to see Hardik Pandya (1/33 in 5 overs) among the wickets and bowl a few overs across two spells. Hardik though never looked like bowling any effort deliveries and, instead, tried to hit the hard lengths.

Overall, it was a dominating performance by Shikhar Dhawan led Indian team to go 1-0 ahead in the three match ODI series.

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By: XtraTime
Title: IND vs SL 1st ODI: Dhawan, Ishan guides India to a comprehensive 7 wickets win over SL at Premadasa stadium
Sourced From: xtratime.in/ind-vs-sl-1st-odi-dhawan-ishan-guides-india-to-a-comprehensive-7-wickets-win-at-premadasa-stadium/
Published Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2021 18:03:23 +0000

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