1st ODI: Lakmal shines as all-round Sri Lanka thrash India by 7 wickets; take 1-0 lead

Dharamsala, Dec 10: Sri Lanka crushed India by 7 wickets in the first ODI in Dharamsala on Sunday (December 10) as they chased down the paltry target of 113 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

India put up a dismal batting performance on a seam-friendly pitch against a quality pace bowling from Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep. In response, the visitors overhauled the target in 20.4 overs to register their biggest win in terms of balls (176) remaining.

India lost to Sri Lanka after a gap of 12 years on Indian soil. Suranga Lakmal produced a memorable performance as the visitors first restricted India to a paltry 112 after skipper Thisara Perera invited them to bat first.

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The win also enabled Sri Lanka break the ignominy of 12 straight defeats in ODIs and also their first win against India in the current year after losing all international matches at home as well as the Test series here. It was an inauspicious start to Rohit Sharma's India captaincy.

The Men In Blue didn't get off to a good start first up and succumbed to the pressure in the absence of their batting mainstay Virat Kohli. No Indian batsman, barring Mahendra Singh Dhoni, managed to stand against a quality bowling effort from the visitors.

Lakmal returned with brilliant figures of 10-4-4-13 to restrict the hosts to a low total. India witnessed a disastrous start as they kept losing wickets from the second over itself.

Had it not been the grippy fifty from the seasoned campaigner MS Dhoni - who scored a brilliant 65 - and was the last Indian wicket to perish.

Dhoni played really well, knowing when and where to play his shots, executing them perfectly and proving he's one of the finest readers of the game. He tried to run the game as per his plans even as wickets kept falling from the other end. The 36-year-old waited for the lose deliveries and scored runs. Unfortunately, he let his wicket go with an ugly slog as he sliced from outside the off stump and paid the price too as he found the fielder at deep cover.

His dismissal in the 39th over brought to an end a terrible performance from the Indians who struggled throughout the innings. Dhoni was the only shining star as he racked up 65 of the total 112 runs.

Seven Indian batsmen failed to touch the double-figure mark. Kuldeep Yadav was the second highest scorer for the hosts with his 19. He stitched a partnership of 41 runs with Dhoni to ensure hosts cross the 100-run mark.

Rohit (2), who is leading the team in this series, along with his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan (0) failed to give them a good start. The hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals and runs didn't come easily to them as well. Comeback man Dinesh Karthik departed without scoring despite facing 18 deliveries, making him the batsman to play most balls without scoring.

The story for the Indians wasn't different on either side. Debutant Shreyas Iyer (9), Manish Pandey (2), Hardik Pandya (10), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0), and Jasprit Bumrah (0) too failed with the bat. Yuzvendra Chahal (0*) was the last man standing for the hosts.

The bowlers were the real start of the show though, and in particular, Lakmal who took four wickets with a devastating 10 over spell at the start of the innings. He was ably assisted by fellow pacers Angelo Mathews (1/8) and Nuwan Pradeep (2/37) as the visitors dominated on a track favouring seam bowling.

In response, Indian bowlers failed to maintain the pressure on the opposition despite getting two early breakthroughs. Jasprit Bumrah once again struck early to send Danushka Gunathalika (1) cheaply. His pace twin Bhuvneshwar Kumar cleaned up Lahiru Thirimanne (0) soon after.

But yet another No-ball from Bumrah cost India the wicket of Upul Tharanga (49) and that proved costly for the hosts. The left-handed batsman made them pay for Bumrah's mistake and took the hosts close to victory.

Finally, Niroshan Dickwella (25*) and Angelo Mathews (26*) played aggressively to take the visitors home and finished the job.