Hardik Pandya led India to a 2-1 T20 series win over Sri Lanka at Rajkot as Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering unbeaten century (112 not out off 51 balls) powered Men in Blue to a mammoth total of 228-5 in the third and final match of the series at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday. After the win, Pandya took to social media to share his reaction. and thank the fans for the support. He tweeted a series of pictures and captioned it: “Best possible way to end the series and begin the new year Thank you to the fans for turning up and supporting us through it all.”
Best possible way to end the series and begin the new year
Thank you to the fans for turning up and supporting us through it all ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Zex2EPMdiz
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) January 7, 2023
Next up ODI series
With the win, India will go into the ODI series high on confidence as Rohit Sharma will lead the campaign in the first match in Guwahati on Tuesday.
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Super Surya
Meanwhile, with his beautiful wristy shots, Suryakumar made the opponent team feel like he isn’t from the same planet, treating every bowler with disdain. Apart from him, Shubman Gill played a decent knock (46 off 36) while Rahul Tripathi gave India some quickfire runs in the Power-play with his 35 off 16.
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Poor start for India
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, India lost the first wicket early as Ishan Kishan poked outside off and edged behind a swinging bouncing delivery from Madushanka in the very first over of the innings. Kishan’s opening partner Shubman Gill also struggled to open his account for the first nine balls before he smashed Madushanka for six and four in back-to-back deliveries to get things going.
Rahul Tripathi, who walked in to bat at No 3 again, showed his attacking intent by hitting Theekshana for three fours in an over. He smashed five fours and two sixes in his blistering innings of 35 off 16 balls to give the much-needed impetus to Indian innings. He got out, cutely steer the ball to third man and found the fielder in the 6th over. Nonetheless, Tripathi’s innings meant that India finished the Power-play at 53/2, which was good after they lost Ishan in the first over as Shubman Gill was batting steadily at the other.
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But, it was Suryakumar Yadav, who wasted little time to get off the block and toyed with Sri Lankan bowlers by hitting them all around the park. The stylish batter got going with a four and a six off Karunaratne, driving over mid-off and executing the whip-pull.
