Tokyo Olympics is nearing. Tamil Nadu Premier League ( TNPL) starts today ( Monday 19th July). India Vs England Test Series enclosing 5 Test matches starts on August 3. In the middle of all these and Covid-19 pandemic, India toured Sri Lanka to play 3 ODIs and 3 T20s. India have sent a B-team to Sri Lanka for this tour as the main team is in England now. Yesterday India played their first ODI against Sri Lanka. Two new faces made their debut yesterday. They are new for the International arena but not for India. They are Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. Suryakumar Yadav has played quality cricket for years and have been impressive for last 3 years. Ishan Kishan, at the age of 23 impressed the selectors through his consistent IPL performance. Both performed very well for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Also both made their T20I debut in March in the series against England. They both scored 50 in their T20I debut. Now together they made their ODI debut. It was also Ishan Kishan’s birthday yesterday.

Team India – Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan (wk), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Team Sri Lanka – Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka(wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka(c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana, Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan.

Other than the debuts, two good things happened for Team India yesterday. One was the return of Kuldeep and Chahal combo. Other was seeing Hardik Pandya bowling.

Let’s see the first thing now. Yes, Kuldeep and Chahal are back. They are playing together after 2 years since the 2019 World cup. Their performance in International cricket was not as per the expected standards. Many ups and downs. Going in and out of the team. Kuldeep traveling with the team in every tour and not getting any chance of playing. Everything came to an end yesterday when they played the game. Not only just playing, they also took 2 wickets each. They controlled the middle overs with stability. They haven’t gave runs easily. They also picket wickets at necessary intervals.

Then coming to Hardik’s bowling, he bowled 5 overs giving 34 runs and picking a wicket. He came back as an all-rounder to the team. It is a really good sign for him and also for the nation. This will help the team to maintain balance in bowling and batting units in the T20 World cup coming this year after IPL.

Krunal Pandya was impressive with his economy. Prithvi Shaw scored a quick fire 43 at the start of the innings. Manish Pandey gave balance in the middle overs but he failed to score much. Above all, the captain Shikhar Dhawan scored 86* and took the innings deep and won the match. Suryakumar Yadav impressed at the end of the innings.

Sanju Samson was injured. So he couldn’t make into the playing 11 yesterday. He had a ligament injury. Many expected him to be in the playing 11 as he smacked the bowlers in nets and in the practice matches. We’ll expect him in the next match tomorrow. Bye.

#staysafe