India weather early Sri Lanka storm

Pallekele: Their mountain of runs seemingly inadequate when Kusal Mendis and, with greater ferocity Pathum Nissanka, were taking them to the cleaners, India invoked the spirit of Bridgetown at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday night to snatch what in the end was a commanding 43-run victory.

New skipper Suryakumar Yadav had unleashed an extraordinary assault to build on the blazing start provided by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant put his early-innings blues behind him with a timely return to unabashed ball-bashing, allowing the visitors to muscle to 213 for seven on being put in by Charith Asalanka.

Sri Lanka had never chased more than 194 successfully, but they weren’t going to die wondering. Egged on by a capacity crowd, they threatened to mar Suryakumar’s welcome party through Kusal Mendis and Pathum Nissanka, who reprised the Jaiswal-Gill show with equal ferocity.

Without the rested Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, India looked a little short on ideas with the torrent of runs unchecked even after Mendis’ dismissal by Arshdeep Singh following an opening salvo of 84.

Nissanka, packing a punch that belied his diminutive frame, found the boundary or cleared it with consummate ease on his way to 79, his highest T20I score, and at 140 for one after 14 overs, Sri Lanka were firmly on course to snatch a 1-0 lead against the World Champions.

Nissanka threw them a lifeline by shaping to cut Axar Patel, who kept following the right-hander to hit his leg pole. That set off an extraordinary collapse; for no reason, the hosts pressed the panic button even though India weren’t exactly at their best either with the ball or in the field.

But there is something about a champion side that energises it at the first hint of an opening, and when Kusal Janith Perera holed out in the same over as Nissanka, India were all over their opponents like a bad rash. Sri Lanka found innovative ways of courting disaster and Suryakumar extended his batting cheekiness to his captaincy too by bringing on part-time offie Riyan Parag in the 17th over with the game still in the balance. Parag responded with a five-run over that produced two wickets, and cleaned up the tail to finish with three wickets, Sri Lanka losing their last nine wickets for 30 runs in 32 deliveries to keel over for 170.

Sri Lanka’s tame end was in stark contrast to India’s blazing start with Jaiswal and Gill matching each other stroke for stroke. But even their incandescent batting was put to shade by Suryakumar, unruffled as he walked across his stumps to hoist the ball to leg or playing his sweeps against dangerous leggie Wanindu Hasaranga with impunity.

The hosts’ decision to hold pace ace Matheesha Pathirana back until the 12th over might seem to have paid dividends as he finished with four for 40, but he got his wickets with the batters trying to force the pace. Perhaps a crack at Suryakumar earlier on might have been a better approach, but India weren’t complaining.