Dhawan, Kishan power India to easy win

India produced a powerful batting display to outplay Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the first One Day International (ODI) at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday.

After restricting the home side to 262 for nine in 50 overs, India spectacularly raced to their target scoring 263 for three from just 36.4 overs.

India’s run chase began with a flourish as the openers Prithvi Shaw and Skipper Shikhar Dhawan launched a calculated attack to put on 58 runs from just 5.3 overs.

Debutant Ishan Kishan joined his captain and the two left-handers virtually sealed the contest in India’s favour by adding 85 runs in 12 overs.

Wicket-keeper batsman Kishan also marked his 23rd birthday by bringing up his maiden half-century from 33 balls inclusive of two sixes and eight boundaries.

Earlier, Sri Lanka could not exploit the perfect batting conditions and always struggled to put up a challenging total on the board.

Left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav struck two early blows to put Sri Lanka under early pressure while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and paceman Deepak Chahar also captured two wickets each.