India defeated Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the first ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Shikhar Dhawan, the team’s all-rounder for the win over Sri Lanka. Dhawan scored an unbeaten 86 off 95 balls with six boundaries and a six. Dhawan shared the first wicket with Prithvi Shah (43), 85 for the second wicket, Ishan Kishan (59) and Manish Pandey (26) for 72. India achieved 263 for three in 36.4 overs. Dhawan is the 10th Indian batsman to score 6000 runs in ODI cricket in this innings.
Deepak Chahar (2 for 37), Kuldeep Yadav (2 for 48) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2 for 52) helped Sri Lanka to 262 for nine. Bowling economist Krunal Pandya took one wicket for just 26 runs in 10 overs. After the match, Dhawan said, “All our players are very mature and aggressive. He has done a great job today and I am very happy. Three spinners (Yuzvendra) Chahal, Kuldeep (Yadav) and Krunal (Pandya) bowled well and got us back in the game.
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He said, ‘It’s good to see Prithvi and Ishaan batting on the other end. Originally I was asking them to play carefully. These players have the experience of playing in the IPL and they finished the match in the first 15 overs.
Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka admitted that he had not scored enough.
‘We started well but after that they bowled well. I am happy to take on the responsibility of leadership. India made an aggressive start in batting. We had to change the speed of the ball because the ball was coming off the bat smoothly. We will try to improve it in the next game.
