IND vs SL Man of the Match: The Indian pacer won his third Man of the Match award in the shortest format at the highest level.
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During the first T20I of the ongoing India’s tour of Sri Lanka in Colombo, India beat Sri Lanka by 38 runs to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
After Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka won the toss and invited India in to bat first, the visitors scored 164/5 in 20 overs. Playing only his fourth T20I, batsman Suryakumar Yadav’s second half-century in the format was the highlight of the Indian innings.
Continuing his golden run at the highest level, the right-hand batsman contributed with 50 (34) scoring five fours and two sixes in the process. Known to play innovative sweep shots, Yadav found boundaries at will on a slowish surface which speaks highly about his current form.
IND vs SL Man of the Match today
Chasing a 165-run target, Sri Lanka were bundled out for 126 in 18.3 overs with Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bowling figures of 3.3-0-22-4 playing a titular role in an Indian victory.
Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the seventh over, debutant Charith Asalanka impressed one and all by scoring 44 (26) with the help of three fours and three sixes. Short of company with respect to others founding boundaries at regular intervals, Asalanka was left with too much to do in his first T20I.
Opening the bowling for India, Kumar did leak 10 runs in his first over but came back from behind to dismiss Avishka Fernando (26) on the first delivery of his second spell. Asked to bowl in the death overs as is generally the case, Kumar picked three more lower-order wickets to find a much-needed rhythm ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
“I played ODI after a couple of months, so you take some time get into the rhythm. It was a good batting wicket but there was some help for bowlers too,” Kumar was quoted as saying after winning the Man of the Match award during the post-match presentation ceremony.
