With Hardik Pandya still over quota, many expected the Indian skipper to step up, but instead he let Axar Patel do the work.
India and Sri Lanka held a thrilling contest with the Men in Blue claiming his two-round victory at his inaugural T20I in Mumbai on Tuesday. Debuting for India, Sivammavi starred in his side as he scalped his four wickets in the quota and allowed just 22 runs. Umran Malik also put in a great performance as he continued to give his best. The Jammu and Kashmir speedster hit 155kph on his speedgun and from four overs he came back with two wickets. Based on clinical performance, India successfully defended 162 runs, with the result decided in the final ball of the game. Sri Lanka slowly started chasing as Mavi scored twice in power playovers.
India maintained their momentum and continued to put more pressure on the tourists and in just 11 overs he packed half of them with 68 on the board. However, Sri Lankan skippers Dasun Shanaka and Wanindu Hasaranga kept chasing them as he added 40 runs in just 23 deliveries for 6 wickets.
As the partnership looked ominous, Mavi was called into the attack again, and the youth quickly broke through to India. He missed Hasaranga for 21 in 15 overs.
However, Shanaka remained steadfast as Sri Lanka drew closer to the goal, and Umran his Malik thundered the Sri Lankan captain with a thunderclap of 155 km/h. He was dismissed for 45 (27) when his wickets saw the contest swing in favor of India.
With his last two overs requiring his 29 and Malik and Mavi’s quota being exhausted, Pandya handed over the responsibility of bowling his second to last over to Harshal Patel. However, Hershall allowed his 16 runs and nearly eluded India of the match as he reduced the equation to 13 in his last six balls. With Hardik Pandya still over quota, many expected the Indian skipper to turn his arm around, but he handed the job over to Axor Patel instead.
Patel started the over wide and conceded a single on the first delivery. He then rolled a dot before Chamika Karunaratne maxed out his third supply.
Many expected Sri Lanka to finish on the winning side as the equation went down from his 3rd to his 5th, but Patel allowed just 2 runs on 3 balls in the final. did. He threw a point on his fourth delivery, and the last two balls were run out as the batter tried to sneak in the doubles. Axar’s performance caused Sri Lanka’s innings to fold for 160. This gave India a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday in Pune.