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India's Yuzvendra Chahal, second right, celebrates with teammates the dismissal of Sri Lanka's Angelo Mathews during their first Twenty20 international cricket match in Cuttack, India, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Only Tharanga and Kusal Perera showed some resistance, scoring 23 and 19 respectively. Making a comeback into the team, Jaydev Unadkat provided the first blow, getting the dangerous Dickwella for 13.
Earlier, after being put into bat by Thisara Perera, India got off to a steady start as KL Rahul — who had replaced Shikhar Dhawan — and Rohit Sharma stitched together a 38-run partnership.
However, Lanka struck just when it seemed Rohit would start going. The Indian skipper mistimed one off Mathews and Chameera completed a simple catch at mid-on.
In form Shreyas Iyer joined Rahul in the middle but struggled to get going. However, Rahul found his timing and did most of the damage as the two put 63 runs together for the second-wicket.
The pitch wasn't helping the matters as the ball wasn't coming onto the bat and was stopping on the batsmen.
If the pitch was not cut for the batsmen, then dew made things difficult for the bowlers. Ropes were being bought out after every other over to help clear the dew.
Iyer scored three boundaries in his 20 before Pradeep got the better off him, again Iyer was trying to up the ante but could only manage an outside edge straight to the wicket-keeper.
MS Dhoni, whose spot in the T20 team has been up for debate in recent times, walked in to bat at no.4 and scored a crucial unbeaten 39 off 22 balls. He got some time to get going as he was on 11 off 10 balls before accelerating towards the end of the innings, including a maximum off the last ball.
He was well supported by Manish Pandey, who scored 32 off 18 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes.
The two got 60 runs off the last four overs to help India reach 180/3 which was above par on the wicket.
India vs Sri Lanka First T20I Highlights - As It Happened
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First Published: December 20, 2017, 10:22 PM IST