Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav© X (Twitter)
Two matches, two wins, as Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav help India kick-off the new era in T20I cricket with a series win against Sri Lanka. Though the weather gods made the match quite tricky for the Indian team, with the second innings being reduced to 8 overs due to rain, the Indian batters did really well to take the team home and secure an unassailable 2-0 series win in the series. Right after the conclusion of the 2nd T20I, however, India head coach Gambhir was spotted in an intense chat with skipper Suryakumar. The visual made many fans wonder what the two might be discussing.
— Out Of Context Cricket (@Iamzanwar) July 28, 2024This is Gambhir era
Played two, won two! Gautam Gambhir & Surya Kumar Yadav are discussing the series victory. What a start for them
Surya Kumar Yadav won first series as permanent captain. He and Gautam Gambhir started first tour on the victorious note #INDvsSL pic.twitter.com/DUS6gBkEtx
— Ganpat Teli (@gateposts_) July 29, 2024
As for the match, India captain Suryakumar was quite content with the all-round display by his team, as the tourists secured a straightforward victory to seal the fate of the series.
"We spoke about this before this tournament - what brand of cricket we want to play. Even if it's a shorter target or whatever target we are chasing, this is the template which we would like to go ahead with. With the weather around, anything below 160 would have been nice. The games which we have seen here before have always been tricky. Rain helped us. The way the boys batted, it was wonderful. We'll sit and decide what we want to do going forward (when asked if they'll test their bench strength). Very happy for the boys the way they showed their skill and talent and lot of character in tough situations," Suryakumar said in the post-match presentation.
Recapping the second T20I, Suryakumar Yadav-led side won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Batting first, Sri Lanka scored 161/9 in their 20 overs with the knocks from Kushal Perara (53 runs off 34 balls, 6 fours and 2 sixes), Pathum Nissanka (32 runs from 24 balls, 5 fours), and Kamindu Mendis (26 runs in 23 ballls, 4 fours).
For India, the highest wicket-taker was leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who snapped three wickets in his spell of four overs, where he conceded 26 runs. Two wickets each were bagged by Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel, and Hardik Pandya in their respective spells.
Due to rain, the match was shortened to 8 overs and the target for Men in Blue was 78 runs which they chased down in 6.3 overs. The highest scorer for the side was Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 30 runs off 15 balls which was laced with three fours and two sixes.
With ANI Inputs