SL VS IND - 1st Match, India and Bangladesh in Sri Lanka T20I Tri-Series, 2018

Shikhar Dhawan says that he is one person 'who loves to have fun in life' and believes that the 'younger players are ready to step up'. Well, India have an opportunity to translate those words into actions. On Thursday, against Bangladesh. Same place, same time. Do remember to join us for that. A big thank you for sending in all those wily, witty comments. Until next time, this is Raju Peethala bidding goodbye on behalf of the entire team [Pratyush Sinha, Ramakrishnan, Sriram and Siva]. Night!!

Chandika Hathurusingha's appointment as Head coach is certainly working wonders for Sri Lanka. And he rightly gets a warm round of applause from the crowd. Amazing how one person's presence can lift the team and get them to play like they've been playing in the last couple of months. Overall, Sri Lankan cricket would be happy and proud for they have found ways to win games after a disastrous 18 months in international cricket. Their next assignment will be against Bangladesh on Saturday, this weekend.

Key stats from the game below, courtesy Deepu Narayanan:

~ February 2016 was when Sri Lanka last beat India in a T20I. They lost seven successive games since, before breaking out of the streak today
~ 175 is the highest target chased down by Sri Lanka versus India in T20Is. It's also the highest target chased at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
~ Maiden loss for Rohit Sharma as India captain in five T20Is
~ 90 by Shikhar Dhawan is the third-highest score by an Indian in a losing cause, behind KL Rahul's 110* (vs WI at Lauderhill, 2016) and Rohit Sharma's 106 (vs South Africa at Dharamsala, 2015)
~ 27 by Shardul Thakur is the second-most number of runs conceded in an over by an Indian bowler in T20Is. 32 conceded by Stuart Binny against Windies at Lauderhill in 2016 sits at the top of the pile

Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka captain: We are very happy as a team. This is a very good start for the tournament. We will look to continue the momentum. Really happy for the side. The last series gave us a lot of confidence, thanks to management they have been really helpful during the practice sessions. Credit goes to boys, they have done a great job. He (Hathurusingha) is doing an excellent job and we know how good we are as a team. Really happy.

Rohit Sharma, India captain: I think it was a par score, definitely something we could have defended. We could have accelerated a bit more towards the end. It was a decent wicket. The kind of start they got was amazing. A lot of credit must go to Sri Lanka, to their whole batting group. I'm sure we will learn from our mistakes. I felt we've got enough experience in our bowling line-up. They are very much new into the scene, they have had enough experience having been in these situations before. We all know on a wicket like that you need your batting as strong as possible. Our squad is well equipped with plenty of all-rounders and that offers the balance to the side.

Kusal Perera, Man of the Match: This is my best innings, but I had better innings as well. I backed myself and practiced hard to hit the ball cleanly. Bowlers did a good job by restricting India to 174. Credit must go to them as well.

22:27 local: Thakur started it and Thakur finished it. Well, that line could be quite misleading, but that's Sri Lanka's chase in a nutshell. After conceding 27 runs in the third over of the innings, India needed quick wickets to stop Sri Lanka, but that didn't happen. Half of the target was devoured in 7 overs and that gave them the breathing space to nudge and nurdle around during the middle overs. India tried their best to take it deep, but the damage was done in the powerplay overs, thanks to Kusal Perera who ripped the bowling apart and eventually put paid to India's hopes. Much to Sri Lanka's delight, this is the highest T20I chase at RPS

SN Thakur to Perera, FOUR, pulled away to the fine leg fence and that's it. Sri Lanka start their campaign with a confidence-boosting win against India. They win by 5 wickets. Thakur missed his mark, but Perera didn't, spots the slower short ball and posts it in the gap to mark the Sri Lanka's truimph

Harsha Bhogle: After that kind of start, Sri Lanka were favourites. And they have finished well. India's bowling looks slim. Who is Rohit's go-to bowler now?

SN Thakur to Perera, 2 runs, slower short ball, Perera hammers the pull to deep mid-wicket and calls for two. A better throw at the striker's end would have had Perera in trouble

SN Thakur to Shanaka, 1 run, cue-ends the drive to extra cover and hustles for a quick single. Rohit aims and misses at the non-striker's end

SN Thakur to Shanaka, wide, ups his pace - 144ks - but loses radar, slips it down leg, wided

Shardul Thakur [3.0-0-34-0] is back into the attack

Sri Lanka a couple of strokes away

Unadkat to Perera, FOUR, sheer muscle power. Hasn't timed it that well, but he picked the safest spot to play the slog, nails this full toss (missed a attempted yorker of course) over his partner

Unadkat to Perera, SIX, he is a real bludgeoner of the cricket ball. Straight out of Justin Kemp's book. Clears his front leg, stays ready for a full ball and thrashes it straight back over the bowler's head

Unadkat to Perera, wide, fires a yorker, but dished it a little too far outside off, just past the tramline for the umpire to exercise his arms

Unadkat to Shanaka, leg byes, 1 run, angles this slower delivery into the body from round the wicket, smacks Shanaka on the hip and rolls into the off-side after he missed the hack

Unadkat to Shanaka, no run, offcutter closer to the stumps, Shanaka gave himself a bit of room and swung way too early. No dice

Unadkat to Shanaka, FOUR, width on offer and that's slapped over extra cover, Shanaka clears his front leg and picks his spot before laying into the stroke