Suryakumar Leads India to Victory: A Thrilling Start to the T20I Series
Suryakumar Yadav, India’s new Twenty20 International captain, demonstrated his leadership qualities when his team defeated Sri Lanka by 43 runs in an exciting match at Pallekele.
Both teams gave amazing performances in the match, but Suryakumar’s team won and the Indian T20I series got off to a great start. After trailing 214 runs at 140 for 1, Sri Lanka lost nine wickets at a cost of 30 runs.
Sri Lanka 170 (Nissanka 79, Mendis 45, Parag 3-5, Arshdeep 2-24, Axar 2-38) lost to by India 213 for 7 (Suryakumar 58, Pant 49, Jaiswal 40, Pathirana 4-40) by 43 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav’s new T20I era for India got off to a great start, despite moments of nervousness during their defense of a large total. With just five bowling options, an Indian squad struggling mightily against a strong Sri Lankan batting lineup led by Pathum Nissanka’s blistering 79. Pressure from scoreboards was one of them. Even with nine wickets remaining, Sri Lanka needed to score 74 runs off of 36.
After being given a ball by Ravi Bishnoi at deep midwicket, Nissanka fell to Axar Patel, allowing the floodgates to flow. Kusal Perera fell four balls later, giving India a double-strike after the opening over. It would be the beginning of an incredible collapse, with Sri Lanka losing 9 out of 30 to give up a game they would have been favorites to win.
Shubman Gill had admitted on match eve that his T20I batting style needed to be improved. He demonstrated his words on Saturday by tugging and trimming anything just a little too short to put the bowlers under duress during the powerplay. As India’s new opening pair devolved into a spirited competition of one-upmanship, Yashasvi Jaiswal was equally combative.
Sri Lanka was offended by Jaiswal’s intentions and their early introduction of spin. He opened the proceedings by hitting a clean six over long off to Maheesh Theekshana, and he then unleashed a vicious slog sweep for four. Over the course of a 74-run first-wicket stand, India struck 11 fours and three sixes in the powerplay. Gill then miscued a lofted drive to mid-on, which allowed Dilshan Madushanka to smash 34 off 16 balls.
Following Gill’s removal, Jaiswal was bowled out for a 21-ball 40 off the very next ball by Wanindu Hasaranga when he hit a ripping googly. Suryakumar, however, was soon at ease with his surroundings, cutting inside the line to hit the pick-up flick for six on his fourth ball. When he top-edged a Madushanka bouncer in the eighth over, he gave himself a chance on 15, but Asitha Fernando dropped the ball at fine leg. It would turn out to be expensive.
With his abundance of sweeps, Suryakumar punished Hasaranga and the ambidextrous Kamindu Mendis to build a half-century stand for the third wicket, with Rishabh Pant contributing just 11 runs. Suryakumar blasted numerous arcs on the legside boundary. In a short while, Suryakumar achieved his second-fastest T20I half-century in just 22 balls, but he was caught off guard by Matheesha Pathirana, who was not allowed to finish the innings until the 12th over.
Pant needed 15 balls and Asitha’s mishandled catch at deep square leg to get his maiden boundary. After Suryakumar was dismissed, he followed it up with a helicopter shot over midwicket in the 16th over, ending a 14-ball boundary drought. For the most part of his innings, Pant didn’t even really able to shift out of second gear. He clawed his way to 20 off 23 before he hit his first six. Making 29 of the following 10, he eventually fell 49 when trying to take down Pathirana for the third consecutive boundary.
In order to clean bowl Hardik and Pant, Pathirana adhered to his basic bowling ethos of straight and quick. Riyan Parag was dismissed in the same manner as Suryakumar, lbw to a low-arm slinger as they missed full deliveries. After being 135 for 2 after 12 overs, India finished with 213 runs, with Pathirana finishing at 4 for 40.
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In the third over, Axar’s drifters trapped both of Sri Lanka’s batters, forcing them to the stumps and beginning their chase. When Nissanka hammered Mohammed Siraj for two sixes in the fourth over, first over third man and then over deep midwicket, he turned things up a notch. After 31 balls, Sri Lanka reached their fifty.
As he continued to fire deliveries down leg, Ravi Bishnoi swept and reverse-swept with contempt, greeting Hardik with a bludgeon through point. India were on edge when Mendis broke through the line to ruthlessly flip Arshdeep Singh into the grass banks in the ninth over. However, the batter failed to replicate the stroke off the subsequent ball, holing out to deep midwicket.
India was pushed to make mistakes by Sri Lanka’s counterattack, and Nissanka scored five runs off an overthrow to reach his half-century off only 34 balls. Soon after, Nissanka unleashed his full potential, swiping Axar over the ropes, reversing course to reach inside the line of length balls, and pouncing on anything that was dragged down. However, Nissanka chopped when she tried to cut at 140 for 1. The leisurely stroll back signified an incomplete task.
Arshdeep and Siraj each had two overs. India needed to defend 56 runs with four overs remaining, therefore it was inevitable that Suryakumar would go to his two front-line pacers. Rather than throwing the ball to Shivam Dube or Washington Sundar, he passed it to Parag. And unlike Axar and Bishnoi, Parag gave it a rip, albeit at a slower pace.
Following India’s fortunate dismissal of Dasun Shanaka, which was made possible by Siraj‘s agility at short third, Parag bowled Kamindu, conceding just five runs at a crucial juncture. Then he was allowed a second over when, in a show of good faith, he picked up Theekshana and Madushanka off consecutive deliveries to win the match for Sri Lanka, who were all but out and needed 44 from six.
