Team India defended a par score on a sluggish Colombo surface as their pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar came back in their later spells to bowl out Sri Lanka for just 126 runs. The visitors won the game by 38 runs and thus took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
165 was never going to be a challenging score to chase for Sri Lanka unless the visitors took regular wickets. The second innings ebbed and flowed as for a few overs the hosts were in command and then India came back with a couple of wickets, the run-rate slowed down and Sri Lanka fought back, then India dented them with a couple of more wickets.
Left-handed batsman Charith Asalanka played his part and was keeping his side afloat with a boundary every over as he hit three fours and as many sixes in his 44-run knock off just 26 balls. With the wickets falling from the other end, he was keeping up with the rate, but then came the game-changing over from Deepak Chahar.
Chahar removed Asalanka and all-rounder Wanindu Hasaranga in the same over, i.e., the 16th over of the innings the match tilted in India's favour. after which, vice-captain Bhuvneshwar came back and removed Sri Lanka's tail.
Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav's knock of 50 runs off just 34 balls helped India reach 164 runs, which skipper Shikhar Dhawan thought was 10-15 runs less but eventually, it proved to be enough.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was named the 'Player of the Match' for his figures of 4/22.
