The first ODI between India and Sri Lanka ended in a tie as Sri Lankan skipper Charith Asalanka picked two wickets in two balls to deny India the win. Shivam Dube and Arshdeep Singh couldn’t score the one run needed for the win. It was a great game from start to finish as the home team fought back at various stages of the game.
It was Sri Lanka who batted first and scored 230/8 from their 50 overs. The best batter for Sri Lanka was Dunith Wellage with 67 runs from 65 balls while he got good support from Wanindu Hasaranga who scored 24 and Janith Liyange who scored 20. For India Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel picked 2 wickets each.
India had rested Rishabh Pant, Riyan Parag, Khaleel Ahmed, and Harshit Rana. Sri Lanka who had lost the services of Matheesha Pathirana had given a debut to right-arm pace bowler Mohammad Shiraz.
India stumbles in their chase of 231 runs
Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma gave India a great start as the two added 75 runs for the opening. Rohit Sharma was at his aggressive best as he scored 58 runs and also went past 15000 runs in international cricket.
The opening stand was broken when Dunith Wellage had Gill caught by Kusal Mendis for 16. The left-arm spinner then struck an over later when he got the key wicket of Rohit Sharma for 58.
Akila Dhananjaya then struck as he dismissed Washington Sundar for five. Virat Kohli was joined by Shreyas Iyer and the pair added 43 runs for the 4th wicket. Wanindu Hasaranga got the biggest wicket of the day when he had Virat Kohli out for 24. Shreyas Iyer saw his stumps disturbed by Asitha Fernando for 23.
KL Rahul and Axar Patel added 57 runs for the 6th wicket. The two batters looked comfortable at the crease and looked like taking the game away from the hosts. Hasaranga had KL Rahul going for a sweep shot only to be caught by Wellage for 31.
Axar Patel soon was out caught behind by Asalanka for 33. From there Shivam Dube tried his best to get India past the total as he scored 25 runs off 24 balls with one four and two sixes.
Here’s how the fans reacted -
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