Bhuvneshwar Kumar's team 'easily' beat Shikhar Dhawan-led side in India's intra-squad match in Sri Lanka
Shikhar Dhawan couldn't get off to the best of starts on his debut captaincy tour. His team lost to vice-captain Bhuvneshwar Kumar-led side in an intra-squad match in Sri Lanka.
Shikhar Dhawan's team won the toss in Colombo and opted to bat first. They put up a par total of 150-odd runs in 20 overs, with Manish Pandey leading the charts with 63. Young Chennai Super Kings opener Ruturaj Gaikwad also chipped in with 30-odd runs.
However, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Co. made light work of the target and shot it down within 17 overs. Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal strung a 60-run opening stand and Suryakumar Yadav finished things off with a half-century.
One of the coaches with the team, Paras Mhambrey, disclosed the much-anticipated details of the game in a video shared by the BCCI. Mhambrey said:
"The two nominated captains from today's game were Shikhar Dhawan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Shikhar won the toss and elected to bat first. His team managed to score 150-odd in the allotted 20 overs. There were useful contributions from Ruturaj, who scored 30-odd runs, and Manish Pandey, the highest scorer with 63. It was a very hot day, a hard day, and everyone appreciated Manish for his contribution."
Paras Mhambrey added:
"Bhuvi's [Bhuvneshwar Kumar] team could manage to chase that easily in the 17th over, with Suryakumar who got fifty-plus. There were a couple of useful contributions from Devdutt and Prithvi Shaw as well, putting up a 60-run opening partnership."
Based on the details provided by Mhambrey, it is clear that the team is currently looking at Gaikwad, Shaw, Padikkal and Shikhar Dhawan as the four available openers. Similarly, Pandey and Yadav look certain to take up the anchoring responsibilities in the main games against Sri Lanka.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar's team given a 40-run target for the last four overs after winning the game
The match didn't end despite the Bhuvneshwar Kumar-led team's quick chase. Instead, the team management decided to add a 40-run target to the chasing team for the remaining four overs in a bid to make the best use of their time. Elaborating on the concept, Mhambrey said:
"It looked like the target was pretty easy of them [Bhuvneshwar Kumar's team]. So what we did was we revised the target out there and put another challenge to them. We asked them to score 40 runs in the allotted four overs. We wanted to push them, we wanted to see what could be done differently and make the best use of the day."
Mhambrey added:
"From the support staff's point of view, we achieved what we wanted to, we ticked the right boxes. The intensity was good, the effort was spot on and let's see how it goes for the next game."
The Indian contingent has to make do with intra-squad matches after they were denied practice games due to the COVID-19 situation in the island nation. The team has one more week to squeeze in as many games as possible before the first ODI kicks off on July 13.