Shivam Mavi was the star of the show as India defeated Sri Lanka by two runs in the first T20I on Tuesday in a last-over thriller.
Mavi picked up four wickets as the hosts defeated Sri Lanka in the final over of the game which had the fans on the edge of their seats till the last ball.
Sri Lanka won the toss in the match and put India to bat first. Ishan Kishan got the hosts off to a flying start by scoring 17 runs in the first over by Kasun Rajitha.
However, Sri Lanka bounced back quickly as Mahesh Theekshana dismissed Shubman Gill, with just 27 runs on the board. Suryakumar Yadav also followed quickly as the Indian innings started to cool off with Sanju Samson also going for just five runs with India at 46 for 3 in 6.5 overs.
Kishan got to 37 runs but he was dismissed by Hasaranga with the score at 77 for four. The hosts found themselves in all sorts of trouble when captain Hardik Pandya returned to the pavilion with the score at 94 for five in 14.1 overs.
However, Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel launched a counterattack to put the pressure back on the Sri Lankan bowlers. Hooda and Patel stitched together 68 runs off 35 deliveries to help India reach 162 in 20 overs. Hooda and Patel remained unbeaten on 41 and 31 respectively.
Sri Lanka had a woeful start to their chase as they lost Pathum Nissanka for just one run as he was bowled by Shivam Mavi. The debutant would pick up the wicket of Dhananjaya de Silva in his second over to leave the visitors at 24 for two in 3.5 overs.
Umran Malik joined the party as he got the wicket of Charith Asalanka and Harshal Patel removed Kusal Mendis and Bhanuka Rajapaksa to leave Sri Lanka in a spot of bother at 68 for five in 10.4 overs.
Hasaranga and Shanaka kept the visitors in the contest with some lusty blows, but Mavi returned and got rid of the former, who scored 21 runs off 10 balls.
The Sri Lankan captain kept going in his merry way and took apart Harshal in the 16th over as 13 runs were added to the scoreboard.
However, Malik delivered the big wicket as Shanaka was dismissed for 45 runs in 27 deliveries to swing the match in India’s favour. Mavi would pick up his fourth wicket in the form of Theekshana as Sri Lanka’s hopes started to fade.
There was some late drama as Harshal conceded 14 runs in the 19th over, meaning that Sri Lanka needed 14 runs to win the match.
The last over went to Axar and Karunaratne got a six to bring the equation to 5 off 3 balls. But Karunaratne couldn’t get the job done as Rajitha and Madushanaka were run out to see Sri Lanka get all out for 160 runs and India took a 1-0 lead.
