Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer put up sizzling batting displays to lead India’s 62-run win against Sri Lanka in the first T20I at Lucknow’s Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Thursday. With the win, the hosts have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. 

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Kishan, who bagged a whopping Rs 15.25 crore at the IPL mega auction earlier this month, scored 89 runs in 56 balls with the help of 10 fours and three maximums. He and skipper Rohit Sharma (44 off 32) put up a 111-run opening stand in 12 overs before Shreyas Iyer provided the late charge with an unbeaten 57. India racked up a massive 199 for 2 in the first innings. 

In the secon innings, bowlers, led by Bhuveshwar Kumar (2/9 in 2 overs) and Venkatesh Iyer (2/36) restricted Sri Lanka to 137 for 6 in 20 overs.

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Yuzvendra Chahal (1/11) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/28) claimed one wicket each.

The Men in Blue have now won 10 T20I matches in a row – their highest winning streak in the format. 

For Sri Lanka, Charith Asalanka regained some confidence with an unbeaten 47-ball 53 but he didn’t get any support from the other batters.

Meanwhile, India skipper Rohit Sharma became the  highest scorer in all T20Is, surpassing Martin Guptill (3299) to now go onto 3307.

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Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (67 wickets) have now gone past Jasprit Bumrah as India’s top wicket-taker in T20Is.

Ishan Kishan, who was named the player of the match, said, ” I got to learn a lot from the West Indies series. My intent wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t positive enough. I was just trying to keep it simple here – watch the ball and play my shots. Pull is my favourite shot, I enjoy playing that shot.

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“It’s a positive thing for the batting unit as well because you need to hit gaps preparing for the world cup in Australia. I was talking to Shreyas about the mid-wicket region. He said if you middle the ball you could get a boundary. If you hit the gaps you can get two. And it went my way,” the opener added. 

The second T20I of the series will be played on Saturday at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala.