Never thought it would escape us – Suryakumar Yadav | India tour of Sri Lanka, 2024

The era of Indian cricket began with a victory for the Men in Blue.

Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, who batted first in Pallekele, followed the batting approach adopted by India under Rohit Sharma. Together they scored 74 runs in the powerplay itself.

That gave India the momentum to reach 213/7 despite Sri Lanka’s brilliant comeback through the spells of Matheesha Pathirana (4/40) and Wanindu Hasaranga (1/28). Suryakumar Yadav was majestic in his 58(26), and the top three and Rishabh Pant (49 off 33) took India’s total to 213.

In response, Sri Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka (79 off 48) and Kusal Mendis (45 off 27) gave the home team a great start. Even after the fall of Mendis’ wicket on 84 in the ninth over, Nissanka continued the run-scoring momentum and by the 14th over, the Lankans were 140/1.

Even at that stage, India knew it was just a one-wicket affair, as their captain Suryakumar acknowledged in the post-match presentation.

“They (the Sri Lankan openers) played good cricket from ball one. They kept the pace up and that’s where the credit goes,” Suryakumar said.

“We know how the wicket plays at night. We were lucky there was no dew. The way we played in the World Cup reminded us that the game was still too far away.”

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka captain expressed his disappointment over India’s performance in the powerplay and the middle over collapse that saw Sri Lanka lose nine wickets and just 30 runs.

“We weren’t at our best in the power play, but in the last part we came back pretty strong,” said Charith Asalanka.

“At one point we thought they (India) would get to 240, we did well. A bit disappointed with the way the middle-order batted, we could have done better.”

Despite the loss, Asalanka backed the combination of playing with six batters and five bowlers, affirming that “it is an experiment, and this is the path we have to take in the future.”

The second T20I of the three-match T20I series will be held on July 28, in less than 24 hours.

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