Despite the absence of the big names, the Shikhar Dhawan-led 2nd string Indian team performed remarkably well as India defeated Sri Lanka by 7 wickets on Sunday in the 1st ODI in Colombo.
Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. The Indian spinners stole the show as they restricted the fragile Sri Lankan batting line-up in the middle overs. Kuldeep Yadav, Deepak Chahar and Yuzvendra Chahal took 2 wickets each, Pandya brothers too contributed by picking up a wicket each. Chamika Karunaratne’s 43 off 35 balls helped the hosts post a target of 263. In reply, the flamboyance of the young guns put together with skipper Shikhar Dhawan’s experience made the chase a cakewalk for the Men in Blue. With a quickfire 43 off 24 balls from Prithvi Shaw, India dominated the second innings from start to end. It was an ideal debut for birthday boy Ishan Kishan who became the first Indian to score a half-century on ODI debut & T20 debut. The 23-year-old scored 59 off 42 balls including 8 fours and 2 sixes. Dhawan was at the helm of India’s spectacular chase as he made sure to stick around until the very end of the match. Dhawan scored an unbeaten 86 off 95 as India took a 1-0 lead in the 3 match ODI series.