Stats: 1st T20I - Sri Lankan pacers shine as Yuvraj Singh's unique love for sixes continue
Sri Lanka defeated India in the first Twenty20 international by 5 wickets at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. All credits go to the Sri Lankan bowlers who displayed top-class bowling right from the very first over of the match.
Kasun Rajitha and Dasun Shanuka – the two medium pacers – outclassed the Indian batsmen with their splendid bowling spells. Both of the picked 3 wickets each and were really economical. For once, we couldn’t believe it was the same Indian batting line-up which destroyed Australia in their den recently.
An exciting match saw Sri Lanka winning the in the end quite comfortably, but even faced challenges from the start as the green wicket of Pune didn’t spare any batsman. The match brought many interesting numbers up and they are as follows:
0 - Number of times India had lost their first 2 wickets in the first over in T20Is, before today.
61 - India played their 61st T20 today & it is only the 2nd time they have lost their 1st wicket without a run on the board.
2 - Today was Rohit Sharma's 2nd duck in T20s as an opener. His 1st was 0(2) came against Kings XI Punjab at Wankhede Stadium in 2015.
1st - First to bat in 50 innings without scoring a fifty+ score: Tests - James Kelly (Australia), ODIs - Geoff Lawson (Australia) and T20Is - MS Dhoni
65 - Yuvraj Singh has more number of sixes (65) to his name than fours (62) in twenty20 internationals. Other batsmen with sixes more than fours in T20Is (Minimum 25 sixes) are South Africa’s Albie Morkel 29 fours, 39 sixes and New Zealand’s Colin Munro 23 fours, 27 sixes.
2 - Number of wickets Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka had before today’s game. He played his 27th match today and picked 3 wickets, which is more than his career tally till now.
47 - India's top seven together contributed 47 runs today; that's the lowest aggregate of India's top 7 in a T20 International.
31 - Ravichandran Ashwin made his highest T20 international score today. 17 was his previous best which came against England in Kolkata, 2011-12. Batting at No.9 in this match, he was also the highest scorer for India today.
2 - Number of Sri Lanka bowlers who took 2 wickets in the first over of their T20I career today - Kasun Rajitha and Dasun Shanaka.
8 - Sri Lankan pacers took 8 wickets today - which was most by them in an innings. 4 times they have taken 7 wickets - thrice outside Asia.
101 - India registered their third-lowest total today as they were bowled out for 101 runs in 18.5 overs. Only twice have they managed a total under 100. The first and their lowest was against Australia in Melbourne in 2008, while the other occasion was as recent as October 2015 when they were bundled out for 92 in Cuttack against South Africa.
3 for 29 - Fourth best bowling figure for Sri Lanka on debut was achieved by Kasun Rajitha. Ajantha Mendis has tops this list with his 4 for 15 vs Zimbabwe in 2008, he’s followed by 4 for 19 by K Weeraratne vs Pakistan in 2008 and 3 for 26 by D Perera vs Australia in 2008