Team India is having a brilliant time in the Sri Lankan shores and after drubbing the hosts by a 3-0 margin in the Test series, the Virat Kohli led side trounced them for yet another time in the opening ODI at the Rangiri International Stadium in Dambulla.
It was a thoroughly professional performance by the Men in Blue as them romped home by 9 wickets and with more than 22 overs to spare while chasing a target of 217.
Sri Lanka’s batsmen began in a positive fashion with openers Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka going great guns. But much like the same old story, Sri Lanka crumbled in the middle overs and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Comeback man Axar Patel who was included in the squad due to Ravindra Jadeja’s absence grabbed his opportunity with both hands by picking 3 crucial wickets.
He bowled in the right areas and the Sri Lankan batsmen were all over him. He finished with impressive figures of 3/34. Later on, it was Shikhar Dhawan’s brilliant unbeaten century and captain Virat Kohli’s well-composed knock which propelled the Indians to a stunning win. Following India’s victory Axar Patel and Jasprit Bumrah was seen in an intriguing question answer session where Bumrah played the role of a journalist and asked his teammate a few question on his return to the national team, his performance and much more.
Bumrah started off by asking that what was his mindset after making a return to the playing XI after a gap of almost 6 7 months.
“I am feeling very happy. I have returned after some time, almost six to seven months, so feeling good. I was not thinking too much about today’s match (1st ODI). My plan was to perform how I did when I was first picked to play for India and I stuck to that plan. I didn’t think too much about the comeback and didn’t think of experimenting too much either,” Axar said.
“Are you disappointed that you did not get the Man of the Match award?,” Bumrah then asked to which Axar gave a fitting reply that these sort of things encircles everyone’s mind but with the way Dhawan batted there wasn’t any other option for the Man of the Match Award.
“The way Shiki bhai (Shikhar Dhawan) batted, he deserved to be the Man of the Match. The good thing is everyone is performing in the team and we are not dependent on individuals<” Axar signed off.
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