It was an ecstatic display from the young guns of India as they dismantled Sri Lanka by bits and pieces in the opening ODI of the tournament.
The pair of Kul-Cha plugged the gigantic leaks through which Sri Lanka started scoring initially, with brick and mortar while Deepak Chahar came up with a spirited display towards the latter half of the innings to establish India firmly in the driver’s seat.
While coming out to bat, the Indian batters dominated their continental counterparts with consummate ease and the rampage carried on by the young guns accompanied by their captain, Shikhar Dhawan’s calculated brilliance was too overwhelming for the Lankans to arrest.
As India chronicled a remarkable victory over Sri Lanka, a list of records was broken and a new list was created. We will quickly take a glance at the ones broken while the ones created.
Highest win margin while chasing a 250 plus total
India’s dominant batting allowed them to seal the fate of the tie with 80 balls to spare. This record equaled one of Virat Kohli’s boisterous brilliance that helped chase down a monumental total of 321 in just 37 overs. This record was penned in 2012 and took almost 9 years to be touched, if not broken.
Victory by 80 balls to spare!
This equals India’s biggest ODI win against any opponent while chasing a target over 250.
Equals the 80 balls to spare win at Hobart on 28 Feb 2012 also against Sri Lanka (320/4, India 321/3 in 36.4 overs).#SLvInd #SLvsInd #IndvSL— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) July 18, 2021
Highest five-over total
India was soaring high at 57 for the loss of none at the end of five overs. This flamboyance came on the back of a dynamic knock from Prithvi Shaw who was eventually adjudged as the man of the match for his 24-ball-43. Going by the words of ESPN Cricinfo’s Sampath Bandarupalli, this is India’s highest-ever total in the opening five overs of an ODI.
First birthday fifty
Ishan Kishan became the second Indian player to make a debut on his birthday while Gursharan Singh was the first and the 16th player to make a debut on his birthday throughout the world. After a dominant half-century last night, he became the first India to garner a half-century in his debut and that too on a birthday.
5⃣0⃣ on T20I debut
5⃣0⃣ on ODI debut@ishankishan51 knows a thing or two about making a cracking start ? ? #TeamIndia #SLvIND
Follow the match ? https://t.co/rf0sHqdzSK pic.twitter.com/i4YThXGRga
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 18, 2021
Second fastest 6000 runs in ODI cricket
Dhawan’s scintillating 86 last night helped him to achieve his milestone of 6000 ODI runs and eventually became the second-fastest Indian to achieve this milestone after Virat Kohli. He took 140 innings to achieve this herculean feat. Throughout the world, he became the fourth-fastest cricketer to achieve his feat while Virat(136), Hashim Amla(123) and Kane Williamson(139) were the other three. He also completed 10000 international runs last night.
Oldest captain
Shikhar Dhawan became the oldest captain to lead India in One Day cricket. At 35 years and 225 days, he became the oldest Indian captain in ODI cricket as Mohinder Amarnath was the one who held the previous record. Amarnath made his captaincy debut at 34 years and 37 days against Pakistan in Sialkot.
Three debutants in the first #SLvIND ODI:
?? Bhanuka Rajapaksa
?? Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan who celebrates his birthday today!Congratulations ? pic.twitter.com/JupDC3ufxe
— ICC (@ICC) July 18, 2021
Mother of coincidences
The number ‘25’ played an important role last night. Dasun Shanaka became the 25th captain to lead Sri Lanka in their ODI history while Minod Bhanuka became the 25th wicket-keeper for Sri Lanka. Similarly, Shikhar Dhawan became the 25th captain to lead India in ODI’s while Ishan Kishan became the 25th wicket-keeper to play for India in ODI.
