Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal’s famous spin duo finally came back together as they played against Sri Lanka in the first One-Day International in Colombo. They last played together during the World Cup 2019 against England, since then the spin-twin haven’t played together for India.
Kul-Cha took no time to come back amongst wickets. While Chahal got a wicket on the first ball of his spell, Kuldeep managed two wickets in his third over. Shikhar Dhawan took a fine diving catch to give Kuldeep his first wicket on the first ball of the 17th over.
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Bhanuka Rajapaksa was looking good and was taking on Indian bowlers. He tried to pull a short ball from Kuldeep Yadav but ended up cueing it in the air and Dhawan sprinted backwards before taking a well-judged diving catch.
Rajapaksa scored 24 runs in 22 balls, where he hit two fours and two sixes.
Watch the dismissal here;
The KUL-CHA magic returns! 🔥
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Kuldeep Yadav removed Minod Bhanuka two balls later to crumble Sri Lanka’s middle-order. He returned with the figures of 2/48 in nine overs where he bowled one maiden over as well.
On the other hand, Chahal also grabbed two wickets in his quota of ten overs and conceded 52 runs.
Also Read: Kuldeep Yadav is confident of doing well against Sri Lanka
Earlier, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Team India fielded with two debutants – Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav. Sri Lankan batsmen showed a good fight against Indian bowlers and scored 262/9 in 50 overs despite no batsmen reaching to individual fifty. Chamika Karunaratne top-scored with unbeaten 43 runs in 35 balls.
Deepak Chahar, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal grabbed two wickets each while the Pandya brothers managed one wicket each. Bhuvneshwar Kumar went wicketless and leaked 63 runs in his nine overs.
India chased the target down easily with 80 balls to spare and seven wickets in hand. Prithvi Shaw made a blistering start by scoring 43 runs in just 24 balls featuring nine fours. Ishan Kishan scored fifty on debut and got out soon after.
Shikhar Dhawan remained composed till the end to score unbeaten 86 runs.