'National Anthem learnings' - Irfan Pathan shares a picture of his son and nephews singing 'Jana Gana Mana

The three-match T20I series between India and Sri Lanka got underway on Sunday. The visitors won the preceding ODI series by 2-1 and they will be keen on winning the contest in the shortest format as well. Before the start of any international match, there is a norm of playing the national anthem of both the countries and the same ritual was followed in Colombo as well.

India being the visitors, their national anthem was played first and certainly, it gives goosebumps not only to the players but also to the fans watching at home. Something similar happened in former India cricketers Pathan brothers’ home on Sunday.

As the Indian national anthem started on Television, Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Pathan’s sons stood with pride and sung it. Irfan was quick enough to click the memorable moment as his and Yusuf’s kids sung the national anthem and posted it on his official Twitter handle.

Here’s the tweet:

National anthem 🇮🇳 #learning pic.twitter.com/cnneootCQX

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) July 25, 2021

India hand two debuts in first T20I

As far as the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka is concerned, the Shikhar Dhawan-led side handed a debut to Prithvi Shaw and Varun Chakravarthy. Both the debuts were expected given that Shaw had batted superbly in the ODI series while Varun’s mystery spin was also likely to be tried ahead of the T20 World Cup.

The debut, however, was not a memorable one for Shaw as he got a brilliant delivery from Dushmantha Chameera. He got out for a golden duck in his debut T20I innings as India were rocked early. The Men in Blue will have to bat well now to post a big total on the board as chasing has been easy throughout the limited-overs series between the two teams.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka also handed debut caps in the shortest format to two of their players who impressed in the ODI series. Charith Asalanka and Chamika Karunaratne made their T20I debuts in this match and both of them will be looking to make the most of this opportunity.