INDvSL: Introductory Shivam Mavi; Aksar increased the pace in the last over; India started with a win!

The Indian team has started the New Year with a win. It was not an ordinary victory either, adding excitement till the end and recording a thrilling victory against the Sri Lankan team by 2 runs.

During the toss before the match, Indian team captain Hardik Pandya mentioned something. ‘This pitch is perfect for chasing. But we don’t want to search. We like to challenge ourselves. So, even if we had won the toss, we would have batted first’ he spoke with full confidence. As per what was said, the Indian team has successfully overcome and won the challenge ahead.

Rajitha had bowled the first over on behalf of the Sri Lankan team. Ishan Kishan started the action in this very first over. 17 runs in this over alone. Ishan Kishan alone scored 14 runs. However, these actions did not continue. Sri Lanka’s powerplay specialist spinner Maheesh Deeksana dismissed Subman Gill lbw in the third over. Suryakumar Yadav hit just one boundary and got out in Karunaratne’s over before the end of the powerplay. Sanju Samson also missed the chance and Dhananjay de Silva got out of the ball as soon as he arrived. After this, Hardik Pandya played the attack for a while. However, there was no major jump in the run rate. In 14.1 overs, Hardik Pandya was dismissed by Madhushanka and the Indian team’s score was only 94. The run rate was around 6. However, at the end of 20 overs, the Indian team scored 162 runs.

In the last 5.5 overs only, the Indian team had added 68 runs. Runrate over 10. The most important reason for this is the partnership formed by Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel.

Hooda lifted the Indian team which was struggling until then with his action. Vanindu Hazaranga, who was bowling sparingly, had hit 3 sixes in the overs of Maheez Deeksana. It is noteworthy that no other Indian batsman hit a six in their overs in this match. Akshar Patel also contributed actively and the Indian team reached 162 runs.

The target for Sri Lanka was 163. However, the Sri Lankan team managed to score only 160 runs in 20 overs. Defending 162 runs is a great achievement. Debutant Shivam Mavi, Umran Malik and Axar Patel contributed to this victory with their bowling.

Shivam Mavi gave 22 runs in 4 overs and took 4 wickets. He bowled 2 overs and took 2 wickets only in the powerplay. He alternated the length and set up the batsmen and beat them tremendously. Both Nishanka and Dhananjaya de Silva would have been bowled by two fours in subsequent deliveries. He bowled a little short pitch and set it up and then bowled it full and took the wicket.

The way the ball crept between Nishanka’s pads and hit the stumps gave the impression of watching a Test match.

Not only the powerplay, but he kept the match alive by conceding just 3 runs in the 18th over when the match was in full swing at the end. Shivam Mavi made a big impact by taking 4 important wickets in the debut match and recorded his track strongly. Umran Malik also threatened. In particular, his lightning quick wicket of Tasun Sanaka was phenomenal.

He had bowled the ball at a speed of 155 kmph. The trademark Umran Malik delivery!

Axar Patel bowled 3 overs and gave away 31 runs. Economy rate was more than 10. No wickets fell. However, Axar Patel is also a match winner. The reason was that last over he bowled. He bowled that over brilliantly in an environment where he had to defend 13 runs. There were no major flaws in that over except that he delivered just one six. Axer used the change of pace perfectly in that last over. He had bowled some balls faster than usual.

101, 105, 108, 109 KM These are the speeds of 4 balls out of 6 he bowled. In between he bowled two balls at around 80 km/h near the white line.

It was this change of pace and difference in line that made Axar successfully bowl that final over.

The Indian team has started this New Year with a win. Fans want this success to continue throughout the year.