Opener KL Rahul’s classy 61 and some sensible batting from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Manish Pandey powered India to a challenging 180 for three against Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 International, here today.
In absence of the first-choice opener Shikhar Dhawan, Rahul grabbed the opportunity with both hands hitting seven fours and one six en route to a 48-balls 61 after they were put in by Sri Lanka skipper Thisara Perera.
Rahul and number three Shreyas Iyer (24) put together 63 runs from 46 balls as India looked to push for a 200 on a two-paced Barabati wicket before Sri Lanka bounced back dismissing the duo in 11 balls.
But former skipper Dhoni, who was promoted to number four, smashed an unbeaten 22-ball 39 and finished with a huge six over square leg.
Manish Pandey provided fine support to Dhoni with an unbeaten 32 from 18 balls as the duo added an unbeaten 68 runs from 34 balls to prop up the total.
Earlier, Sri Lanka have won the toss and invited India to bat first. Sri Lanka made four changes while India also included KL Rahul and Jaidev Unadkat in the squad.
Here are the live updates of India vs Sri Lanka 1st T-20: READ FULL SCORECARD HERE
# India take a 1-0 lead! Chahal leads the destruction as Sri Lanka are dismissed for just 87 in Cuttack, the hosts claiming victory in the 1st T20I by 93 runs.
# Hardik Pandya to Fernando, out Caught by Unadkat!! ALl Out. India's biggest T20I win - by 93 runs.
# Hardik Pandya to Dananjaya, THAT'S OUT!! Caught&Bowled!! Sri Lanka 8 down.
# Kuldeep Yadav to Kusal Perera, out Caught by Dhoni!! Sri Lanka. almost gone.
# Chahal to Perera, out Stumped!! Have you seen the lighting striking?? I saw it today. In my views, Dhoni is the best ever wicket keeper in the world cricket.
# Sri Lanka are in big trouble - 62/5 after 11 overs. Is there any way back? No wise man will agree with this.
# Kuldeep Yadav to Shanaka, out Caught by Hardik Pandya!! Sri Lanka 5 down. Score after 11 overs: SL 62-5
# Chahal to Mathews, THAT'S OUT!! Caught&Bowled! Three down. And the Lankans are in trouble now.
# After 6 overs, Sri Lanka: 40-2
# Angelo Mathews, right handed bat, comes to the crease
# BUT the tactic has worked for India, Chahal strikes, and scalps dangerman Tharanga. He was looking set.
# Chahal comes in to bowl and he is greeted by a Four and a Six by Tharanga.
# Hardik Pandya to Tharanga, SIX, that is very very high in the sky. Upul, my friend, are shooting the stars here? Hold on my friend. It was a length bowl from Pandya and he goes opver mid-wicket to send it in the stands.
# Kusal Perera, left handed bat, comes to the crease
#OUT!! First blow to Sri Lanka, Unadkat scalps Dickwella. Sri Lanka 16-1 after 2 overs.
# Welcome back. Dickwella and Tharanga are at the crease. Dickwella is on strike. Hardik Pandya will open the attack.
Innings BREAK! India finish on 180/3, Lokesh Rahul 61, MS Dhoni 39: Mathews, TP & Pradeep with one wicket each. Sri Lanka need 181 to win!
#SIX on the last bowl. Dhoni finish India’s innings in style. India scored 180 runs, there is dew out there in cuttack and it will not be easy to defend for Indian bowlers
# SIX, FOUR! Manish Pandey gets into the groove. He launches Chameera over deep mid-wicket for a 91-meter six and then hammers an inside out drive over extra cover.
# FOUR! Full toss Dhoni breaks the shackles by shellacking a boundary to deep mid-wicket but Sri Lanka have pulled things back well here.
# Score after 17 overs, IND 138-3
# Four!! More runs. Chameera tries to bowl a yorker but ends up bowling a half vally and Manish din't think twice before punishing it.
# 16.3: SIX!! D Chameera to M Pandey (9), 6 runs
# 16.1: D Chameera to MS Dhoni (15), 4 runs, 124/3
# Score after 15 overs, IND 114-3Manish Pandey 1(2)Dhoni 9(7)
# OUT!! Bowled, a briliiant innings from KL Rahul comes to an end. Slower bowl, Rahul could not pick and the bowl went past his defence.
# The decible goes up in Cuttack as MS Dhoni walks in.
# OUT!! Shreyas Aiyar departs. He was trying to manufacture room, but the ball took the outer edge and went straight into the hands of wicket keeper.
#
Dananjaya to Shreyas Iyer, FOUR, Aiyar has been in a supreb form since ODI series. And he continues the god shows in Cuttack as well.
# KLRahul scores fifty in Cuttack. His second in T20 Internationals. India Score after 11 overs IND 90-1Rahul 55(39), Shreyas Iyer 16(14)
# SIX!!! First six of the innings. Short ball on the hips and Rahul pulls it over deep backward square leg. Humongous sixer.
# KL RAHUL is injured. "Vaha lagi jahan nahi lagni chahiye the," says Virender Sehwag.
# Score after 8 overs, IND 65-1 (Shreyas Iyer 11(9) Rahul 36(26)
# FOUR more!! over the covers, Rahul is smashing the ball beautifully.
# FOUR!! Rahul Pulls it away handsomely through the deep mid-wicket.
# KL Rahul given out LBW by field umpire, he takes a review and replay shows the ball pitched outside the line and was missing the stumps. Decision overruled. Rahul is safe.
# Shreyas Iyer, right handed bat, comes to the crease
# OUT!! Mathews strikes, Rohit Sharma has to go, big blow to India. Could not connect the bal well and the ball took the leading edge of the bat and Chameera took a good catch at mid on. India after 5 overs: 38-1
# Dushmantha Chameera, right-arm fast, comes into the attack
# Just three runs of Akila's first over. He has been Sri Lanka's mystry spinner for long now. He troubled Indian batsmen, especially Rohit during India's tour of Sri Lanka. After 2 overs, India: 13/0
# Akila Dananjaya, right-arm off break, comes into the attack
# India after 1st over: 10/0; Rohit Sharma: Rahul 1(2)Rohit 9(4)
# V Fernando to RG Sharma (6), 4 runs, Full ball and rohit drives it gorgeously.
# Rohit and Rahul are at the crease. Rohit is on strike. Fernando will open the attack
# National anthem of both India and Sri Lanka is being played.
# Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Upul Tharanga, Niroshan Dickwella(w), Kusal Perera, Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne, Thisara Perera(c), Dasun Shanaka, Dushmantha Chameera, Akila Dananjaya, Vishwa Fernando, Nuwan Pradeep
# India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Lokesh Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni(w), Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Jaydev Unadkat, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal
# Sri Lanka have won the toss and elected to bowl first.
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