Nidahas Trophy, Sri Lanka vs India 1st T20I: 5 talking points from first match
After being on the wrong side of the draw for seven consecutive T20I matches, Sri Lanka finally managed to pull one back as they beat India by five wickets in the first match of the Nidahas Trophy.
India batted first as Sri Lanka won the toss and then the bowlers vindicated the decision to bat first as the visitors lost two wickets in the first two overs.
However, Shikhar Dhawan along with Manish Pandey forged a decisive partnership as India piled up 174 runs in their allotted 20 overs.
Sri Lanka got off to a jittery start as they lost Danushka Gunathilaka early, but then Kusal Perera walked in and smashed India to all parts of the ground.
His innings of 66 was defining in the context of the match, and Thisara Perera made sure that there was no end overs drama in the run chase as the hosts clinched the match by 5 wickets with nine balls to spare.
Here are all the talking points from the match.
#5 Miserable day for Shardul Thakur
The Mumbai man had a promising series against South Africa but could not repeat his performance against Sri Lanka.
Kusal Perera took to his bowling and caned him for 27 runs in his first over which put Sri Lanka on the road to victory right from the outset.
Thakur came back in the 14th over as Rohit Sharma looked to get in his overs and did a reasonable job by giving away just four runs, but the damage had already been done and the floodgates well and truly opened for Sri Lanka.