The Indian national cricket team led by Suryakumar Yadav took on the Sri Lanka national cricket team led by Charith Asalanka in the first T20I of the three-match series at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, July 27.

This was the first match of the new era in the Indian team with Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir at the helm as captain and head coach. It is noteworthy that this was not India’s first T20I series after the T20 World Cup win and the retirement of stalwarts Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja as the Men in Blue had travelled to Zimbabwe earlier in the month.

But what is noteworthy here is that the BCCI sent an entirely young Indian team, full of youngsters, to Zimbabwe for the T20I matches, and it was VVS Laxman who served as the head coach on that tour. Moreover, Laxman had his support staff from the NCA.

On the other hand, the Indian team on the tour of Sri Lanka had all the first-choice players available for the T20I series, a new captain, who surprisingly was not Hardik Pandya, as well as a new head coach with some new faces in the support staff. Abhishek Nayar and Ryan ten Doeschate were the new coaches who joined the Indian team at the request of head coach Gambhir.

The way we played in the World Cup reminded us that the game was still a long way off – Suryakumar Yadav

Returning to action on the field for the first T20I, the Indian National Cricket Team was invited to bat first, and posted 213/7 on the board, propped up by good batting performances from Suryakumar Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant. Defending the total, the Indian bowlers came under pressure from Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis, but they bounced back and bowled out the hosts for 170 to help India win by 43 runs.

Speaking during the post-match presentation ceremony, Suryakumar Yadav, who also won the Player of the Match award, praised the Lankan Lions for playing a good brand of cricket throughout their innings.

Meanwhile, the Indian captain did not give credit to his batsmen or bowlers for the win and claimed that lack of dew played a major role in the match and they were lucky in that regard. Suryakumar Yadav said:

“They were playing good cricket from the first ball. They kept up the pace, and credit to them.”

“We know how the wicket is played at night. We were lucky there was no dew.”

Suryakumar Yadav added that even though Sri Lanka is in a privileged position at 140/1, the Indian team was not under pressure as they were confident, thanks to their recent T20 World Cup win. Suryakumar Yadav explained:

“The way we played at the World Cup reminded us that the game was too far away. (Left-right combination that must persist?) Whatever works for the team, we will take it accordingly.”

Meanwhile, the teams have very little time to prepare as the next match is scheduled for Sunday, July 28 at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.