{"id":105540,"date":"2021-07-26T05:30:21","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T05:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=105540"},"modified":"2021-07-26T05:58:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T05:58:56","slug":"kumar-stars-as-india-thrash-sri-lanka-in-1st-t20-after-covid-19-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=105540","title":{"rendered":"Kumar stars as India thrash Sri Lanka in 1st T20 after Covid-19 scare"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n
\n

Colombo: Seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar led a disciplined bowling performance as India hammered Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the opening Twenty20 international after a Covid scare at the stadium on Sunday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Chasing 165 for victory, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 126 in 18.3 overs with Kumar returning figures of 4-22 in Colombo. India lead the three-match series 1-0.<\/p>\n

Earlier skipper Shikhar Dhawan (46) and Suryakumar Yadav (50) guided India to 164-5 in 20 overs after being put into bat first.<\/p>\n

“I thought we were 10-15 runs short but we felt it was still a good total,” said Dhawan.<\/p>\n

“Surya is a great player and we enjoy watching him bat. He was taking pressure off me as well. Sri Lanka were playing well but we knew our spinners will get some turn.”<\/p>\n

Spinners Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, debutant Varun Chakravarthy and quick bowler Hardik Pandya took one wicket each.<\/p>\n

A ground staffer at the R Premadasa Stadium tested positive for Covid-19 following a rapid antigen test, Sri Lanka\u00a0Cricket\u00a0said, before the hosts won the toss.<\/p>\n

As a precaution, reporters and photographers were not allowed inside the 35,000 capacity ground where the white-ball series is being played.<\/p>\n

Spectators were already barred from attending since the start of the three-match one-day series which India won 2-1.<\/p>\n

Kumar struck with opener Avishka Fernando’s key wicket for 26 before the pace spearhead returned to wipe off the tail.<\/p>\n

Pace partner Deepak Chahar took two wickets in one over including debutant Charith Asalanka for 44 to derail Sri Lanka’s chase.<\/p>\n

But it was Dhawan and Yadav who set up the win with their 62-run third-wicket stand that helped India to a challenging total.<\/p>\n

Dhawan, a left-hand opener who put on 51 for the second wicket with Sanju Samson (27), missed out on his fifty after being caught in the deep.<\/p>\n

Yadav raised his second T20 fifty in his fourth match but got out next ball to leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.<\/p>\n

Hasaranga and pace bowler Dushmantha Chameera, who got Prithvi Shaw out first ball of the innings, claimed two wickets each.<\/p>\n

“I thought our bowlers did an amazing job on this wicket,” said Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka. “I hope boys come out and deliver for us.”<\/p>\n

The second T20 is on Tuesday at the same venue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colombo: Seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar led a disciplined bowling performance as India hammered Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the opening Twenty20 international after a […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=105540"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105542,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105540\/revisions\/105542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=105540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=105540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=105540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}