Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka reacts to 43 run loss against India: ‘It’s an experiment…’

The Men in Blue began their Sri Lanka campaign on a high with a massive 43-run victory against the hosts at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in Kandy on Saturday. After the defeat, Sri Lankan skipper Charith Asalanka explained what went wrong for his side in the opening encounter of the 3-match T20I series.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Asalanka said, "We were not up to the mark in the powerplay, but in the latter part, we came back pretty strong. Some stage, we thought they might get to 240, we did well. Little disappointed with the way the middle-order batted, we could have done better. It's an experiment, this is the way we should go in the future,"

India claim first T20 victory in Gambhir era:

The ongoing Sri Lanka series is special for a number of reasons. Firstly, it marks the start of the Gautam Gambhir era after the successful conclusion of former coach Rahul Dravid's tenure following the T20 World Cup. It also marks a transitional period for the Indian team, with new skipper Suryakumar Yadav taking over the reins after the retirements of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

As for Saturday's match, India were asked to bat first in Kandy, where they posted a massive 213/7 in their allotted 20 overs, thanks to some superb knocks from captain Surya, Rishabh Pant, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill.

In reply, the hosts were unable to keep up with the scoring rate and eventually succumbed to the pressure, with the entire side dismissed for 170 in the final over of the match. Surprisingly, part-time spinner Riyan Parag led the way for India, taking 3 wickets in his 1.2 overs for just 5 runs. Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel took two wickets apiece, while Mohammed Siraj and Ravi Bishnoi also claimed a scalp each.