[Watch] Riyan Parag celebrates passionately after picking up his maiden international wicket during 1st IND vs SL T20I
Team India batting all-rounder Riyan Parag celebrated aggressively after picking up his maiden wicket in international cricket on Saturday, July 27. He made the breakthrough during the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Pallekele. It was Parag's fourth match for India, as he played three T20I matches against Zimbabwe earlier this month. The Guwahati player couldn't get a wicket during that tour.
He got off the mark in style on Saturday by cleaning up Sri Lankan batter Kamindu Mendis while bowling a crucial 17th over, his first in the match. Riyan Parag repaid the faith of his captain, who entrusted him to bowl in the death overs, by dismissing the big-hitting Mendis.
He was ecstatic after the wicket and roared, celebrating the special moment passionately. It was a comeback within the game for Riyan as he got out for 7 (6) while batting. He made up for it with his bowling heroics, as he ended up with excellent figures of 1.2-0-5-3.
You can watch Riyan Parag's wickets in the below video:
Suryakumar Yadav, Axar Patel, Riyan Parag, and openers star for India in the 43-run win against Sri Lanka in the first T20I
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka won the toss and invited the opposition to bat first in the contest. Yashasvi Jaiswal (40) and Shubman Gill (34) set up a good platform for India with a 76-run stand in the powerplay. Suryakumar Yadav (58), Rishabh Pant (49), and others utilized it and took the visiting side to a mammoth total of 213/7 in 20 overs.
The hosts then found themselves in a great position in the chase, reaching 140/1 in 14 overs. The spin duo of Axar Patel (2/38) and Riyan Parag (3/5) triggered a massive collapse in the last six overs. They bundled Sri Lanka to 170 in 19.2 overs to help India win the match comfortably after overcoming a fight.
At the post-match presentation, India captain Suryakumar Yadav reflected on the win, saying:
"They were playing some good brand of cricket from ball 1. They kept the tempo up despite wickets falling. We practised over here in the last couple of days, luckily there was no dew. We thought that the game was slipping away from us but then we remembered from what situation we won the World Cup and told ourselves that the match is not away from us."
The two teams will square off in the second T20I of the series on Sunday (July 28) at the same venue.