INDIA Vs SRILANKA 1^st T20:

The shortest and the most exciting format of cricket (20-20) was played between the ICC T20 champions of  2007 ( INDIA) and the runners of  ICC champions of 2009 (SRILANKA) in VCA stadium at Nagpur. The Indian Captain M.S.Dhoni won the toss and elected to field considering the dew factor. Sangakkara, the Srilankan Captain said that he was happy to bat first so that the team can score more runs and put pressure on the Indians.

Srilankan batting:

The specialist openers Dilshan and Jayasuriya opened the Srilankan batting. They struggled to hit fours in the early overs but then the most experienced player in the srilankan side (Jayasuriya) increased the scoring rate by scoring 22 runs in the fifth over of the innings (Nehra’s third over).Then he was dismissed by the debutant Dinda. Then the Srilankan skipper  Sangakkara entered the crease and increased the run rate and thereby the Srilankan team gained momentum. He smashed almost all the deliveries to boundary. Even the good length balls were sent to the fence by his marvelous footwork. Then the opener Dilshan (34) and Jayawardena (9) fell in a quick succession. Then Kapugedera joined hands with the skipper (Partnership of 69). And both these scored at a quick rate with their blistering knocks. And the skipper reached his half century in 21 balls (fastest by a srilankan). Then kapugedera was dismissed with a slow delivery in the 19^th over by Nehra. Then Mathews scored 15 runs in just 4 deliveries (with 2 sixes) that he faced. The skipper (78 in 37 balls with 11 fours and 2 sixes) was run out at the non strikers end in the last ball of the srilankan innings at a score of 215.

Indian Bowling:

The Indian bowlers bowled at a good pace and length for the first overs and lost the control when Jayasuriya scored 22 runs in a over of Nehra. Ishant Sharma, who was back in the side found the good line and bowled consistently through out the innings. Dinda was impressive though he conceded some runs. The lone spinner Ojha went for runs. From the first delivery he bowled ,he was targeted by the Srilankan batsmen and they succeeded. As Indian skipper had no other options he brought the part timers (Rohit Sharma and Yusuf Pathan) into the attack. But they couldn’t control the aggression shown by the Srilankan batsman and hence went for runs. The another important reason for conceding some extra runs was the sloppy fielding by the men in blue. Lots of dropped catch, misfields resulted in such a Himalayan target. One of the world’s best fielders Yuvraj Singh dropped the catch of Jayasuriya in Ishant’s over. Then caught and bowled opportunity of Dilshan and Kapugedera was put down by Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma. And the skipper’s (Sangakkara) catch was dropped by Ishant Sharma in Yusuf Pathan’s over. Thus the Indians had one of the worst days in the field both in bowling and fielding and hence they were expected to be sharp in their batting.

Indian Batting:

As the Men in blue had to chase such a huge target, they were aggressive from the first ball.  The experienced opening pair Sehwag and Ganbhir opened the Indian innings. First boundary of the Indian innings came from the bat of Virender Sehwag (26 in 14 balls) in the first ball he faced. He provided the kind of start that was expected from him. But he was caught in the deep by Matthews in Kulasekara’s over. Then the skipper came to the crease and built a good partnership of 61 with Gambhir. Gambhir was fluent in his strokes and displayed a wonderful batting performance. He scored boundaries consecutively and scored a wonderful half century in 19 balls (which is the second fastest half century in the world. Fastest half century was scored by Yuvraj Singh in 12 balls). Gambhir was dismissed by Matthews in the 9th over at a score of 55(26 balls which had 11 fours). Once Gambhir was out, the Indian batsman fumbled. The skipper  M.S.Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit  Sharma and  Yusuf Pathan got out at a low score and let their side down. Then Raina, Dinda,Nehra contributed runs to the Indian score but that was not enough while chasing 215. Hence they couldn’t achieve the target and fell 29 runs short (186/9)

Srilankan Bowling:

Kulasekara started the proceedings for Srilanka. Kulasekara,Fernando and Malinga went for runs and hence the Indians had the upper hand till the 7^th over. Then Jayasuriya, Matthews pair started troubling the Indian batsmen with their good bowling and the fielders showed a good aggression. This made the batsman try something different and hence lost their wicket. Only a ordinary show of bowling was displayed by Pushpakumara.

The first 5 overs of both the innings belonged to Indians and the rest were dominated by the Srilankans and hence the Srilankans won by 29 runs.