1st T20I: Rahul, Chahal shine in India's mammoth 93-run win over Sri Lanka

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Cuttack, Dec 20: Yuzvendra Chahal returned with a brilliant four-for as a disciplined bowling effort handed India their biggest ever win, in terms of runs, in the first Twenty20 International here on Wednesday (December 20).

Match Scorecard; Series Results

After batsmen posted a challenging 180/3 in the stipulated 20 overs, the spin twin of Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav and the pacers did a brilliant job to restrict the visitors to a paltry 87.

India, thus, won the game by a colossal 93 runs - their best in the 20 overs format. The hosts now lead the three-match series 1-0.

Continuing his impressive form in the shortest format of the game, Chahal returned with figures of 4/22 from his quota of 4 overs. The Haryana cricketer accounted for the key Sri Lankan wickets of Upul Tharanga (23), Angelo Mathews (1), Asela Gunaratne (1) and Thisara Parera (3). He was awarded the Man of the Match for his superb bowling effort in difficult conditions as the dew was making tough for the wrist spinner to grip the ball.

His spin partner, Chinaman Kuldeep (2/18) too grabbed two wickets to tighten the noose around the visitors. While all-rounder Hardik Pandya (3/29) had a memorable outing with the ball as he picked up three wickets.

Comeback man Jaydev Unadkat also bowled well and conceded just seven runs from the two overs he bowled as India bundled them out in 16 overs. The left-arm pacer, who had a decent show in this year's IPL, also got an all-important wicket of Niroshan Dickwella (13) to give his side their first breakthrough.

Overall, it was a clinical finish by the Indians at Barabati Stadium, where they lost their previous T20I encounter after being folded for just 92 against South Africa back in 2015.

Earlier, Lankan skipper Thisara Perera won yet another toss and invited Rohit to bat first, keeping the dew factor in mind.

The hosts, however, had a decent start with the bat as they posted a competitive 180/3 in their 20 overs.

Young Rahul made most of the opportunity he was given and slammed his second T20 half-century off 34 deliveries. The Karnataka batsman (61 off 48) gave the hosts just the kind of start they needed after Rohit departed cheaply for 17.

He along with young Shreyas Iyer (24) recovered the hosts from the loss of their skipper. After Iyer and Rahul's dismissal, team's senior-most batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni (39* off 22) and young Manish Pandey (32* off 18) stitched an unbeaten 68-run partnership to steer their side to a competitive total.

They accumulated 66 runs in the final 5 overs and took the momentum in their favour at the end of the first innings. Dhoni, who was promoted at number four in the batting order, played in his unique style i.e. rotate strike early on and slog later in the death overs.

At the end of the innings, both Dhoni and Pandey returned with a strike rate of 177. Pandey, who didn't have a good show in the ODIs, made most of the opportunity this time around. He smashed two mighty sixes and as many boundaries in his unbeaten stay at the crease.

Earlier, the visitors handed debut cap to left-arm pacer Vishwa Fernando but it wasn't the one he would remember.

The two teams will now face each other in Indore on Friday (December 22) in the second T20I.