Rohit Sharma and Co were expected to continue their winning streak in the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala on December 10. However, the Lankans surprised everyone with their performance and won the first game by 7 runs. The visitors chased down the target with almost 30 overs remaining and lead the series by 1-0.
Earlier this day, India lost the toss and had to bat first. As stated by Rohit, it was a good toss to lose as they wanted to bat first. However, they couldn’t utilize the opportunity. Within 13 runs the top order of the Indian batting line-up including Shikhar Dhawan (0), Rohit Sharma (2), Shreyas Iyer (9) and Dinesh Karthik (0), was back to the dressing room.
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Suranga Lakmal did most of the damage and picked up 4 crucial wickets in his spell of 10 overs. He went on to bag the man of the match award for his phenomenal spell which thrashed the Indian batting.
Only MS Dhoni stood up strong to face the Lankan bowling attack. He kept on hitting the bowlers for boundaries on several occasions but at the same time, he lacked a rock-solid support from the other end. Kuldeep Yadav accompanied him well midway as he played some good batting shots and added runs to the score board. He lost his wicket on 19 runs after.
Though Dhoni scored the 34th fifty of his ODI career, he could help the team to put a good total on the scoreboard. After struggling with the tail-ender, he ended up scoring 65 of 47 balls including 2 sixes and 10 fours. With Dhoni’s wicket being the last, India could only score 112 runs after losing all the 10 wickets on the Dharamsala track.
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Sri Lanka had a very easy total to chase. Openers Upul Tharanga and Dashuna Gunathilaka provided a steady start but lost a wicket early. In the 4th over, Gunathilaka lost his wicket on 1 while Jasprit Bumrah drew the first blood. The next man to depart was Lahiru Thirimanne who was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a duck.
Upul Tharanga went on fight the Indian bowling attack bravely and played a valuable 49-run inning. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get his fifty as Pandya took his wicket.
Later, Angelo Mathews and Niroshan Dickwella went on to chase down the rest of the runs and won the first-ever match for their team in this series.
