Images from the first One-Day International between India and Sri Lanka, in Colombo, on Sunday.
Ishan Kishan celebrated his 23rd birthday with a blazing half-century on debut and Shikhar Dhawan, in his first match as captain, struck the right notes, as India cruised to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the first One-Day International, at the Premadasa stadium in Colombo, on Sunday.
On a track that offered slow turn, the inexperienced Sri Lankan batters splurged like millionaires, throwing away one wicket after another but still posted 262 for nine.
In reply, India’s batting proved too good as they overhauled the target in just 36.4 overs.
Prithvi Shaw, with his new found swagger in 50-over cricket, butchered the Sri Lankan pacers during his brief stay, hammering nine boundaries in a 24-ball 43.
That set the pace for Kishan to come in and hit a six off the first delivery he faced, and followed it up with a square driven boundary.
The Mumbai Indians batsman then used his bat like a sledgehammer, scoring the second fastest ODI fifty on debut -- off 33 balls -- to kill the contest inside the first 20 overs.
He did live dangerously, reprieved twice, but his 59 off 42 balls, which included eight fours and two sixes, certainly made him a strong contender for a place in India’s final list of 20 for the ICC T20 World Cup.
Veteran batsman Dhawan, who very wisely dropped anchor and let the young guns express themselves, then took over to finish off the match in a professional manner with an unbeaten 86 off 95 balls.
All those years of experience did come handy as he played second fiddle to Shaw in an opening stand of 58 in 5.3 overs and during a second-wicket partnership of 85 with Kishan in only 12.2 overs.
But once Kishan was out and with Manish Pandey, (26 off 35 balls) playing to save his international career, scratching around, Dhawan started playing his shots to not let the momentum slip away at any stage, hitting six boundaries and a six.
Pandey's selfish approach, trying to score his own runs at the team's expense, did not yield him any great results as another debutant, Suryakumar Yadav, showed his flamboyance, smashing a quickfire 31 off 20 balls.
Earlier, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal produced economical spells before Chamika Karunaratane's late blitz powered Sri Lanka to 262 for 9.
Kuldeep (2-48 off 9 overs) and Chahal (2-52 off 10), did not run through the Sri Lankan batting, but bowled enough wicket-taking deliveries to choke the run-flow.
Krunal Pandya's (1-26 off 10 overs) nagging accuracy made run-scoring an arduous task in the middle-overs before Karunaratne (43 no off 35 balls) played a cameo to take the home team past 250 with two huge sixes off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's (0-63 off 9 overs bowling.
The Indian pacers also bowled a lot of slower deliveries at the back-end as Deepak Chahar claimed 2 for 7 off 7 overs.
It was heartening to see Hardik Pandya (1 for 33 off 5) among the wickets and bowl a few overs across two spells. He however did not bowl any effort deliveries and, instead, tried to hit the hard lengths.
The first game of the series, which could well be a make-or-break for Kuldeep, saw him pick two quick wickets in the 17th over to effect a break in momentum and the home team never really picked up the pace after that.
The best part was to witness the three spinners operating with their distinct styles of bowling.
Kuldeep used the flight and drift more, Chahal bowled fuller lengths but not as many vicious leg-breaks, while Krunal's wicket-to-wicket deliveries and the speed at which he bowled, was commendable.
Between the three, they bowled 98 dot balls, which formed as many as 16.2 quiet overs. Add the pacers' cumulative dot balls, and the plight of the unheralded Sri Lankans was compounded on a slow turner, as more than 25 overs of the stipulated 50 went without scoring.
Most of the batsmen got a start but did not have the wherewithal to convert the 20s and 30s into a big score.
In the case of Kuldeep, the bad habit of bowling flat and quick that had crept in his system in the last two years, wasn't there to be seen. In fact, he varied his pace well and the one that got left-handed opener Minod Bhanuka (27 off 44 balls) was flighted outside the off-stump, enticing the batsman to go for a drive.
The length was on the fuller side and it turned enough to take the edge, and Prithvi Shaw did the rest at first slip.
He was a trifle lucky before that as Bhanuka Rajapaksa (24 off 22 balls), who was giving the charge, mistimed a pull shot when he sighted a short ball before losing his balance. The aerial ball was well-judged by skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who ran backwards from his mid-on position to take a tumbling catch.
Chahal removed opener Avishka Fernando (32 off 35 balls), who looked the best Lankan batsman on view with a lovely flicked six off Chahar. The Haryana man bowled a proper leg break and Avishka went for an inside-out shot, which Manish Pandey, at extra cover, took to end a 49-run stand.
Chahal broke another 49-run stand when rival sipper Dasun Shanaka (39) was accounted for off the second last delivery of his spell.
