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Ind Vs Sl 2023 Deepak Hooda Debutant Mavi Drive India To Early Honours In T20is

Deepak Hooda, debutant Mavi drive India to early honours in T20Is

image-lcghon5y Team India celebrates a wicket in Mumbai (BCCI)

Team India took home the early honours by winning the first match of their three-game series against Sri Lanka. Jolted by the Sri Lankan spin attack early on, the Indian batters recouped to post a competitive total at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.

Star all-rounders Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel inflicted most of the damage with the bat, after captain Hardik Pandya charted a fighting 29. While Shubman Gill had a silent outing, fellow debutant Shivam Mavi finished with a four-fer and upheld his reputation as T20’s expert paceman.

Hooda, Axar partnership triumphs for India in see-saw thriller

Despite a 17-run opening over through Indian opener Ishan Kishan, the hosts endured a horrible start to their innings. The ‘Men in Blue’ were reduced to 46-3 within the first seven overs, and eventually to 94-5 after a brief Hardik Pandya cameo.

Thereafter, all-rounders Deepak Hooda and Axar Patel took charge of the innings and powered Team India to a competitive 162-5. While Hooda clubbed a six-laden 23-ball 41*, the latter struck 31* off the 20 deliveries he faced.

Later, Shivam Mavi struck in the opening over of his international career to remove Lankan opener Pathum Nissanka, who became the first of four victims for the youngster in his eventful evening. Finding themselves at the edge at 68-5, captain Dasun Shanaka led charge and clubbed 45 tense runs in the death overs.

Some lower-order hitting brought down the equation to 13 from the final over. Fittingly, it was Patel and Hooda who came to Team India’s rescue again as the duo teamed up to inflict two match-winning runouts off the final two deliveries of the contest.

The hosts eventually won the thriller with mere two runs in the bank, and the focus of the series will now shift to Pune for the second T20I.