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India and Sri Lanka played out a thrilling tie in the 1st ODI of the three-match series at the R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. This was the second consecutive tie between the two teams as the 3rd T20I also ended on level scores before India won in the Super Over. After winning the toss, the Lankans elected to bat first and lost early wickets on a tricky Colombo pitch.
The in-form Pathum Nissanka scored a valiant half-century as other batters struggled to score runs on a turning wicket. After a poor effort from the middle order, Dunith Wellalage gave life to the Sri Lankan inning with a fight 67 alongside vital contributions from Wanindu Hasaranga and Janith Liyanage. These cameos helped take the score to 230-8 in 50 over.
For India, Axar Patel and Arshdeep Singh were the pick of the bowlers. Then with the bat, India had a comfortable start with Rohit Sharma leading the way. Sharma got out after 58 and the Men in Blue's struggles began as they batted to slow or lost wickets at regular intervals.
Stars like Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Axar Patel got starts but failed to put up big scores. These made life difficult towards the end as Shivam Dube was the last man to stand and managed to level the scores before getting out. With one required to win from 15 balls, Arshdeep Singh was on strike but got a golden duck and the match was tied.
Speaking about this result, Rohit Sharma said, "The score was gettable, you had to bat well to get there. We batted well in patches. No consistent momentum. We had the upper hand, we lost a couple of wickets. With the KL-Axar partnership, we came back. Little disappointing at the end. These things happened. Sri Lanka played well. In the end, it was a fair result. It (pitch) remained the same. It's not where you can come and play your shots. You have to dig in. The game shifted towards both teams at different times. We should have got that one run."
