India vs Sri Lanka 2022, 1st T20I – Who Said What

India was up against Sri Lanka in the first T20I of the three-match series at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium and it turned out to be an action-packed contest. Winning the toss, Dasun Shanaka called Rohit Sharma and his men to bat first and the decision just brought great luck for Men in Blue as India won the match by 62 runs. While Rohit smashed 44 off 32 balls, Kishan played a stunning knock to mark his comeback after a dismal West Indies series.

Kishan scored 89 off 56 balls to set a heavenly start for India alongside his senior skipper. This was not the end from India’s starry batting side as Shreyas Iyer chipped in with a crucial fifty to push India to post a challenging target of 200 runs. Lahiru Kumara and Dasun Shanaka picked one wicket each for the struggling Lankan side.

India bowlers get the better of Lankan batters

In return, Lankan batters couldn’t settle much on the crease as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The pressure of a huge target got the better of the Lankan side and they got wrapped up on merely 137 runs. Charith Asalanka’s fifty (53* off 47) was the only brought spot in Lanka’s batting lineup. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Venkatesh Iyer picked two wickets each for India.

Winning skipper, Rohit Sharma said:

 I know Ishan for a long time now. I know the mindset he has. I know the ability he has as well. It was just about getting the kind of game that he had today. It was so pleasing to watch from the other end. The way he constructed the innings was so good, that is usually his problem. Very happy with Jadeja’s return. We want more from him that is why we asked him to bat higher. I want him to bat up the order more. He is a very improved batter, so we will try and see if we can promote him going forward. I love playing on big grounds, because that is when you will be tested as a batter. Here you got to use a bit of batsmanship as well. In Kolkata you just needed to time the ball. It’s consitently happening. We are dropping easy catches. Our fielding coach has some work to do.

Losing skipper, Dasun Shanaka said:

We were really poor in all three departments. They batted beautifully, read the game and conditions really well. I could have bowled more. We are without two frontline spinners, Theekshana and Hasaranga. The replacements aren’t really experienced. Asalanka was a positive from this game. Chameera is bowling beautifully. He is our main strike bowler but the situations didn’t allow me to bowl him longer.

Player of the match, Ishan Kishan said:

I got to learn a lot from the West Indies series. My intent wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t positive enough. Pull is my favourite shot, I enjoy playing that shot. It’s a positive thing for the batting unit as well because you need to hit gaps and the grounds are big in Australia. I was talking to Shreyas about the mid-wicket region. He said if you middle the ball you could get a boundary. If you hit the gaps you can get two. And it went my way.