Fearless batting by Prithvi Shaw n Ishan Kishan make it damn easy

Kuldeep Yadav - Yazuvendra Chahal winning combo back

Riding on fearless,classic,attacking batting by opener Prithvi Shaw and then debutant Ishan Kishan, India chase down 263 in 37th over only with quite ease. Prithvi started flurry of classic boundaries on second ball itself .Playing with such a class and ease to both sides of the wicket , leaving inexperienced Sri Lankan pacers clueless. Registering team 50 in just 5 overs - Shaw 43. His 9 boundaries in all were not necessarily on loose deliveries. It was sheer class and timing by 21 year old. Everyone wanted such a treat to go on and on. But at the end of 5th over youngster got bit disturbed by blow on the helmet by Chameera bouncer. Holed to long on immediately on the first ball he faced thereafter from Sri Lankan spinner. 58/1-5.3 overs-Prithvi 43 off 24 balls with 9 fours. Lankans did well here to change the momentum, so one thought. But in comes debutant Ishan Kishan and lifts the very first ball dancing down the wicket over long on boundary for a scintillating six, followed by a square cut four. What a way to start a ODI career! Later he said he had walked in with declared plan to teammates of hitting six on the very first ball. Such a confident these young Indian guns  are. Ishan Kishan continued in same manner riding his luck a bit , asking even a captain to give him strike and registered first fifty of the match. Ishan got out on 59 off 42 balls - 2 sixes and 8 fours. 143/2 - 17.5 overs. What a start to chase with staggering average of almost 8 runs per over.

Shikhar Dhawan in his debut match as captain happily slipped in the role of holding one end. And then completed the formality with Manish Pandey-26 and Suryakumar Yadav 31 not out - another debutant who showed some innovative stroke play against Lankan spinners. India won with 7 wickets in hand and lead series 1-0 with 2 more to go.

Earlier Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first .Started with 49 in 9 overs but Yuzavendra Chahal struck on very first ball. Partnership for second wicket was going on well with 85/1 in 16 overs. But Kuldeep Yadav removed both set batsman in the same over. Inexperienced Lankan batsman failed to apply themselves for big score. Rather Indian bowlers never allowed them to dominante. Left armer Krunal Pandya was very economical. Just 26 off his 10 overs with 1 wicket. Barring a bit resistance by Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka 39 and the last couple of overs hitting by Karunaratne 43 not out, adding 55 in last 5 overs gave them something to bowl at against this exciting stroke players filled Indian batting line up. Both Kuldeep and Chahal got 2 wickets each. Pacer Deepak Chahar also chipped in with 2.Hardik bowled 5 overs got 1.It was good to see him fit to bowl. Bhuvneshwar was bit expensive especially in his last over. India need to take wicket or two in the 1st 10 overs. Conditions and pitch was not at all conducive for swing bowling, India may go for Navdeep Saini as a faster seam bowling option. Prithvi Shaw bagged the man of the match award for his scintillating start which set the ball rolling for Indian run chase.

But all in all India did what was expected from them. Let's see how Lanka reply on  Tuesday 20th July afternoon.

- Vivek Ketkar

#SLvIND