SL vs IND | 1st ODI: Fearless Ishan Kishan, Prithvi Shaw help India claim dominance

A controlled innings of 89 from the skipper Shikhar Dhawan and outrageously aggressive batting from Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan helped India win the first ODI of the series against Sri Lanka in Colombo. The tourists were chasing 263 runs and they reached the target in the 37th over at the loss of just three wickets.

Dhawan was slow and steady at the start but Prithvi Shaw took off from where he left the 14th edition of the IPL. He was in punishing form on anything loose and Sri Lankan bowlers had plenty of that to offer him with the new ball. He was brilliant both with the timing and the power behind his strokes as India motored past the 50-run mark inside the first six overs.

He tried to continue the momentum against the off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva but could not pick the lack of pace on the delivery and went back to the pavilion. 

The Indian team management pulled out a big surprising move by promoting one debutant in Ishan Kishan over the other debutant Suryakumar Yadav, who was the favourite to take that position in the absence of Virat Kohli.

Kishan started off his ODI career with a bang as he deposited de Silva over the long-on boundary and carried on his merry way to hint at a new approach by the team. He never resisted the temptation to go for the big shots and for a major part of his innings, it appeared as if he was wearing the blue jersey of the Mumbai Indians.

First Shaw’s belligerence and later Kishan’s confidence allowed Dhawan to settle down at the crease and make sure India don’t allow the hosts to get back in the game.

Kishan could not elongate his maiden ODI fifty on debut but the next man in Manish Pandey made sure that the tourists were on course for a seamless victory. Both he and Dhawan slowed down a bit but the run rate was never a concern and Pandey recovered pace before getting out very near the target.

Meanwhile, Dhawan reached his fifty and in the process went onto become the fastest batsman to reach the 6,000-run mark in ODI.

The second Indian debutant Suryakumar Yadav provided the late blitz to Indian batting and Dhawan sealed the deal with a calm single that epitomised the kind of innings he played on the first night of the series.

Earlier, the Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that appeared to be slow and low in nature. 

India played two genuine swing bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar but none of them found a considerable amount of movement in the air for a long time. Chahar, in particular, was guilty of searching magic ball and allowed Sri Lankan openers easy balls to get going.

The Indians have struggled to get wickets in the first powerplay and the trend continued in the first ODI as well before Yuzvendra Chahal came in the 10th over to dismiss Avishka Fernando on his very first delivery.

India played the spin twins of Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav after a gap of nearly two years and the move paid dividends as they shared three big wickets between them. Kuldeep was getting the ball to dip at the batsmen and used his wrist to turn the ball admirably. 

Of all the positives India would carry from the first game, a possible resurgence of Kuldeep will be the biggest one of them. There are tough competitions among spin bowlers in the side with the likes of Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Chahar sitting on the sidelines and hence the performance would have done both Kuldeep and Chahal a world of good.

Hardik Pandya came back to play the role of the third seamer and he bowled with good control over his variations. His return to the bowling crease would have paved the way for the return of ‘Kul-Cha’ and India appeared to be ticking one crucial box leading up the ICC World T20.

Sri Lankan batsmen did not help their cause and threw their hard-earned starts away. From Avishka Fernando at the top to the skipper Shanka lower down the order, all have had a good start to their innings but could not prolong their stay to challenge India.

However, a 35-ball 43 from Chamika Karunaratne where he smashed both Bhuvneshwar and Chahar to all parts of the ground took the hosts to some sort of respectability. The score of 262 however could not be enough to challenge the might of this Indian batting lineup that was rated a ‘second string’ by former Sri Lankan skipper Arjuna Ranatunga.

Sri Lanka would be delighted to post a good score on the board after a disastrous tour of England but they will have to dig deep and play out of their skin to come even close to the Indian side.

India, on the other hand, would be delighted to seal a fairly seamless win to start off the series but they would want to improve on their bowling after conceding far too many runs for their linking.

The second ODI of the series will be played at the same ground on July 20.