India’s captain for the series, Shikhar Dhawan got his hands another a stellar effort of a catch to send back Bhanuka off Kuldeep Yadav’s bowling
Despite taking a massively shuffled setup to Sri Lanka for the white ball series as the main side stayed in England for the upcoming test match series, India were touted to trounce the hosts. It was down to the massive repertoire of worldclass players at the Rahul Dravid lead side disposal.
Also, with Sri Lankan cricket in a turmoil as COVID cases and in fighting rankled the side’s camp, everything alluded towards an Indian win as the two sides stepped out for the ODI series opener on Sunday. Up infront of a daunting task as they were asked to bat first, Sri Lanka stepped out with a point to prove.
And they got off to a flying start with Avishka Fernando plundering the Indian bowlers. His dismal did little to put the brakes on Sri Lanka’s tearaway start with Bhanuka Rajapaksa asking the Indian bowlers to go for a walk.
Sri Lanka vs India First ODI Live: Shikhar Takes Sterling Catch To Send Back Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Well set in the middle, unfortunately Bhanuka tried one shot to many. He ended up hooking a short Kuldeep Yadav delivery, one which spun away from him straight into the air over Kuldeep’s head.
However, Bhanuka looked set to survive with Shikhar Dhawan staring at a tricky catch. However, the Indian captain showed why he’s regarded as such a safe pair of hands as he took a fine backwards running diving catch to given Kuldeep his first wicket of the encounter.
That was a brilliant catch by Shikhar Dhawan. pic.twitter.com/JsUrim6jl5
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 18, 2021
Buoyed by the strike, the chainman went onto snag Minod Bhanuka’s wicket in the same over. It was a peach of a delivery, one which hit the right area to force Minod to nicking the ball into Prithvi Shaw’s waiting hands.
The two strikes pulled back the home side with India’s spinners working in tandem to halt the scoring rate. At the time of writing, Sri Lanka find themselves struggling at 149-4 in 34 overs.