India started the T20 series against Sri Lanka with a win.
The match was hosted by Lucknow’s Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. This is the second time The Indian Cricket Team is playing in this stadium. The first time they played was on November 6, 2018, with West Indies.
The playing 11 squad of the Indian Cricket Team included Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Hooda, Venkatesh Iyer, Harshal Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.
The playing 11 squad of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team included Pathum Nissanka, Kamil Mishara, Charith Asalanka, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Janith Liyanage, Dasun Shanaka (c), Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama, Jeffrey Vandersay, Lahiru Kumara.
Deepak Hooda made his debut in this match from the Indian Cricket Team. Hooda is useful with his off-spin which was partly the reason for his inclusion in the ODIs against the Windies. His slow right-arm dilly-dollies were used by KL Rahul in the last IPL season for Punjab Kings.
Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to field.
Ishan and Rohit were invited to bat first, they gave a brilliant start as the pair added 111 runs for the opening wicket. Lahiri Kumar in the final delivery of the 12th over dismissed Rohity on 44(32). Following which Shreyas Iyer joined Ishan in the middle.
Then Ishan was dismissed by the Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka on 89(56).
Iyer returned unbeaten on 57(28) there on the other hand Jadeja scored 3(4).
Charita Asalanka returned unbeaten on 53 off 47 balls.
Batting first, India scored 199 for 2 wickets and won by 62 runs. With this win, India has taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
However, India won by 62 runs but India’s ground-fielding remained as lethal as ever. It is a matter to worry about, as India’s fielding is seeing a lot of lows. Though in this match they won even after the drop catches but they can’t drop these many catches if they really want to reach and win the Australia World Cup.
Their fielding has become questionable since South Africa and West Indies Series.
Even though if we see in this match too, if the opposition team might have been England or Australia then the results might have been very different.
Hence it is a matter of concern for the Indian Cricket Team and they should really really change and improve their strategy in order to see some better results.
At the end of this match, Rohit Sharma has said that they are going to work on their fielding since they are dropping easy catches.
We just wish for a great fielding from India’s side with Australia.
Also, Ishan became the Player of the Match.
