India beat Sri Lanka in the first T20I encounter© AFP
Having made a winning start to his journey as India’s new T20I captain on Saturday, Suryakumar Yadav said he always thought that the game against Sri Lanka was under control despite a good start by the hosts as there was hardly any dew to make life difficult for his bowlers. Chasing a target of 214, Sri Lanka were cruising along at 149 for 2 before losing eight wickets for 21 runs to lose the opening T20I by 43 runs. “We were fortunate that there was no dew. The way we played in the World Cup, that reminded us that the game was still too far,” Suryakumar, who also won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his 26-ball-58, said. He praised the Sri Lankans for a good batting effort but said he always knew that the track would slow down as the game progressed.
“They were playing a good brand of cricket from ball one. They were keeping the tempo, credit goes to them. We know how the wicket plays in the night.”
His opposite number Charith Asalanka felt that the bowlers didn’t do well in the Powerplay but pulled back towards the end to restrict India to 213 for 7 when the total could have easily gone up to 240.
“We were not up to the mark in the powerplay, but in the latter part, we came back pretty strong. Some stage, we thought they might get to 240, we did well,” he said.
About being all out for 170 after being 149 for 2, the Lankan skipper did express his disappointment.
“Little disappointed with the way the middle-order batted, we could have done better. (On the balance of his side) It’s an experiment, this is the way we should go in the future.”
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