New Delhi: Team India started their new journey in style as the Men in Blue romped to a comprehensive 3-0 victory in the T20I series in Sri Lanka. The whitewash marks a victorious start to the era of Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav. Both Gambhir (head coach) and Surya (captain) began their respective leadership roles on the Sri Lanka tour.
While Gambhir replaced Rahul Dravid as the head coach, Surya pipped Hardik Pandya to replace Rohit Sharma as India’s skipper in the shortest format of international cricket. Dravid and Rohit bid farewell after India’s historic T20 World Cup 2024 win with the former leaving the role after his contract ran out and the latter retiring to make way for the young generation.
Rohit, alongside, Virat Kohli will return to the national fold for the ODI series that begins on Friday, August 2. Both seasoned cricketers have reached Colombo to start preparations for the 50-over series. Impressed by the win under the leadership of his Mumbai Indians teammate SKY, Rohit gave a ‘perfect’ reaction after the series victory.
India snatch win from jaws of defeat
With the series already sealed, India made four changes to their playing XI as Shivam Dube, Shubman Gill, Khaleel Ahmed and Washington Sundar got a chance in the dead-rubber. Sent into bat, India were reduced to 30/4 in the powerplay and later 48/5 but Gill and Parag stitched a fifty partnership and then Sundar played a crucial knock lower down the order to take India’s total to 137.
In reply, Sri Lanka started off well as the openers forged a fifty-run stand. But like in the opening two games, Sri Lanka lost wickets in numbers, losing seven for 22 in 4.2 overs and failed to score 9 runs off the final 12 balls against part-timers Rinku Singh and Suryakumar.
The match went to the Super Over and was a no-contest in the end. Sundar ended their hopes of a consolation in just three deliveries, where he bagged two wickets for two runs. SKY sealed the win on the opening ball, hitting a boundary to overcome the 3-run target.
IND vs SL: Impressed by the win under the leadership of his Mumbai Indians teammate Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma gave a ‘perfect’ reaction after the series victory. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
