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Xtra Time Web Desk: A brilliant fifty from Suryakumar Yadav was complemented by some accurate bowling led bu Bhuvneshwar Kumar helped India beat Sri Lanka by 38 runs in the first T20I match at the R Premadasa Stadium on Sunday. Riding on Suryakumar’s classy half century (50 in 34 balls), India posted a decent total of 164/5.Yuzvendra Chahal (1/19 in 4 overs) oozed class while Deepak Chahar (2/24 in 3 overs) and Bhuvneshwar (4/22 in 3.3 overs) picked up wickets when it mattered most, bowling the hosts out for 126 in 18.3 overs.  In fact, from 111/4 in the 16th over, Sri Lanka lost their last six wickets for only 15 runs.

Chahal bowled a miserly spell giving away just 19 runs in his 4 overs, including the wicket of Dhananjaya de Silva in his first over. Last ODI hero  for the hosts, Avishka Fernando (26) paid for slowness of the track as he tried to pull Bhuvneshwar. However, debutant Charith Asalanka (44 off 26 balls) had other ideas as he launched into opposition rookie Chakravarthy (1/28 in 4 overs), smoking him for two huge sixes before being dismissed by Deepak Chahar.

Earlier, Suryakumar continued his rich vein of form and was supported by useful contributions from skipper Shikhar Dhawan (46 off 38 balls) along with Ishan Kishan (20 not out off 14 balls) at the back-end. Skipper Dhawan added 62 with Surya in eight overs to provide a solid launch-pad but the latter's dismissal surely cost India 20 extra runs. It was Surya's knock that helped Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya to launch the final assault. 

At the start, Prithvi Shaw had a forgettable T20 International debut as Dushmantha Chammera's (2/24 in 4 overs)  outswinger found the edge of his bat off the very first delivery of the match. Sanju Samson (27 off 20 balls) hit his customary six while batting like a millionaire before Wanindu Hasaranga (2/28 in 4 overs) trapped him with a googly. Surya as usual was in his free-flowing self, hitting those whiplash on-drives, cover drives and ramp shots which is a sight to watch both against pacers and spinners before finally getting out to Hasaranga immediately after reaching his half century.

Both sides will return at the same venue o Tuesday for the second T20I.

With Inputs from PTI