India’s newly-appointed T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav began his journey as the full-time skipper of the team in emphatic fashion, winning the first match of the series quite convincingly. Suryakuma’s Team India beat the Lankans by 43 runs after putting a whopping total of 213/7 on the board, with the skipper leading from the front. Surya scored 58 runs off 26 balls during his stay in the middle, and was pivotal in dictating the tempo of the game. Even as a skipper Surya gave a fine example of his strategic mindset, helping the team begin the tour on a winning note. As a result, Surya was named the Player of the Match, with the honour enabling him to match Virat Kohli’s world record.

Suryakumar now has the joint-most Player of the Match awards in the history of T20 internationals. He, however, matched Kohli’s record in about half the time, taking just 69 matches to do so, while Virat needed 125.

Virat’s final Player of the Match came in the T20 World Cup 2024 final, post which he announced his retirement from the shortest format in international cricket.

Most POTM awards in T20Is:

Suryakumar Yadav (India) – 16 (in 69 matches)

Virat Kohli (India) – 16 (in 125 matches)

Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe) – 15 (in 91 matches)

Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan) – 14 (in 129 matches)

Rohit Sharma (India) – 14 (in 159 matches)

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Surya also lauded the Sri Lankan team for the effort they put in the middle.

“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. 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. Whatever works for the team, we’ll take the call,” Suryakumar said after the game.

Recapping 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.

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 opf 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 which 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.

With ANI Inputs