After mendis

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium: Riyan Parag, Arshdeep Singh, and Axar Patel played pivotal roles with the ball as India beat Sri Lanka by 43 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Saturday.

After captain Suryakumar Yadav smashed his 20th T20I half-century, while Rishabh Pant and Yashasvi Jaiswal hit attacking 40s in propelling India to a massive 213/7, Pathum Nissanka came out all guns blazing with a stylish 48-ball 79 and shared an 84-run opening stand with Kusal Mendis to keep Sri Lanka in the hunt as they chased the target.

But after that, Sri Lanka lost their remaining nine wickets for just 30 runs to end their innings at 170 in 19.2 overs, especially with five wickets falling from overs 15-18. While Riyan took 3-5, Arshdeep took 2-24 and Axar Patel picked 2-38.