"We were not up to the mark in powerplay": Charith Asalanka

Charith Asalanka. Pic/PTI

After facing a defeat in the first T20I, Charith Asalanka expressed his views on the loss by saying that Sri Lanka was unable to make the most out of the powerplay.

Stupendous performances by the Indian bowlers in the second half of the second innings helped the Blues crush Sri Lanka by 43 runs in the first T20I match at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium.

"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. 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," Charith Asalanka.

Coming to the first T20I, Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Batting first, India scored 213/7 in 20 overs with knocks from Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shubman Gill.

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Matheesha Pathirana was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka as he snapped four wickets in his spell of four overs where he conceded 40 runs. One wicket each was taken by Dilshan Madhushanka, Asitha Fernando, and Haseanga in their respective spells.

Chasing a mammoth total of 214, the hosts were bundled out for 170 runs in 19.2 overs. With this victory, the Men in Blue lead the three-match series 1-0.

The highest scorer for the side was their opener Pathum Nissanka who played a good innings of 79 runs which came on 48 balls and was laced with seven fours and four sixes.

The wicketkeeper-batter, Kushal Mendis also scored crucial 45 runs from just 27 balls with the help of seven fours and a six. No other batter than these two were able to make the mark in the match.

For India, spinner Riyan Parag was the highest wicket-taker. He took three wickets in his spell of 1.2 overs where he conceded just five runs. Two wickets each were bagged by Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel and one wicket each was taken by Mohammed Siraj, Ravi Bishnoi in their respective spells.

Suryakumar Yadav was awarded the "Player of the Match" for his brilliant performance. With this, he equalled the record of star batsman Virat Kohli for the most "Player of the Match" awards in the shortest format of the game.

(With ANI Inputs)