India vs Sri Lanka 1st match

Nidahas  trophy 1st match  India vs Sri Lanka...

Sri Lanka win the toss and opt to field first...

India-174/5(20 overs)

Sri Lanka-175(18.3 overs)

Summary-

Kusal Perera is the Player of the Match for his 66 off 37 balls. "This is the best innings I've played," he beams. "I was confident in my abilities. I'm feeling 100 percent fit now."

Dinesh Chandimal: Very happy as a team. Trying to play competitive cricket, we knew good results will follow if we do that. This is all about transferring confidence from the Bangladesh series. The management have done a wonderful job at training sessions. Really happy! Chandika Hathurusingha has been amazing. This result shows how good we are as a team."

Rohit Sharma is quite frank in his assessment:I think we got a par score, something we could've played with. Having seen the wicket here - it was flat - I thought we could have accelerated towards the end. That said, we still had a decent score but the kind of start Sri Lanka got was amazing. Credit to them as a batting group. Our bowlers tried everything they could, but sometimes it doesn't come off the way you want it to. I felt we have enough experience in our bowling line-ups. Yes, they are new in the scene, but they've put in performances. I had a lot of confidence going into the game. Yes, the execution wasn't upto the mark but we can learn from our mistakes. On a wicket like that, your batting has to be as strong as possible. We're blessed to have a squad that has good batting depth, we also have a couple of allrounders. Hopefully we'll come back strong.

Interesting nugget from Bishen Jeswant, former statistician with ESPNcricinfo: Each of Sri Lanka's top seven made double-digit scores today. This has happened only once previously in a successful chase (by Afgh v UAE, Dubai, 2016).

Dhaval: "Certainly T20 is a batsmen's game, but its your bowlers' skills that can win you matches. Clearly India didn't use their skills so well today."

Jameel : "Just goes on to show how much of a difference Bhuvi & Bumrah make to the Indian bowling attack. The familiar sight of Indian pacers taken to the cleaners, oh no. At least this match has given India a chance to rethink its strategies and understand their shortcoming."

Sri Lanka have broken their seven-match T20 losing streak against India

The cricket might be over but there is lots of top-flight footballing action left for tonight: PSG vs Real Madrid and Liverpool vs Porto in the Champions League. Fans in the subcontinent can stream both the games here.

10.25pm Sri Lanka were cruising high and happy, only to shudder briefly at the first sign of turbulence but they found a way to once again regain altitude and then cruise home to victory. Thisara's blitz in the end helped them close the game out but that they got well ahead of the asking rate early on was thanks to Kusal Perera's 22-ball half-century. India will rue their slow batting, especially towards the end of their innings, but at least they'd know it wasn't because of lack of trying. They could also perhaps rue the absence of an extra bowler. Going in with a super-deep batting line-up left them hoping and praying one of Vijay or Raina come good with the ball tonight, more so after one of their frontline bowlers disappeared early on. For now, let's doff our hat to the fans who turned up in large numbers to make it an evening it turned out to be. How much I've enjoyed hearing the kind of noise, music and dancing like there was today. The hosts will be super-delighted with their efforts tonight.