It was an exhibition of next-gen strokeplay as Team India made hay of a 263-run target against hosts Sri Lanka in the first match of the three-game series. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (86*) and debutant Suryakumar Yadav (31*) closed the game in the 37^th over after a Prithvi Shaw (43) blitzkrieg had set the tone in the first five overs of the chase.

Earlier, Lanka elected to bat after winning the toss, given Colombo’s history of favouring the team batting first. The home team got off to a promising start in the form of a 49-run opening stand. But the reunited spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal (2/52) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/48) kept breaking partnerships at regular intervals to keep a check on the scoring rate. A miserly spell from Krunal Pandya (1/26) also deserves credit.

Number 8 batsman Chamira Karunaratne’s (40) late flourish helped Sri Lanka cross the 250-mark and go even better after he took on Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two sixes and a four in the last over. But once Shaw started driving and cutting the ball, that final fillip was lost on the Lankans; and a promising half-century on debut for birthday boy Ishan Kishan then laid the foundation for comfortable win for the new-look touring party.

Here’s an interesting list of records that were broken and breached en route:

Highest Win Margin

Team India were able to close the game with 80 balls to spare, equalling their biggest margin of balls remaining in a chase of 250 or above. The previous record was created in 2012 when Virat Kohli’s antics helped India chase 321 in the 37^th over, at Hobart.

Best Five-Over Total

Team India were 57 for no loss at the end of five overs, on the back of Man of the Match Prithvi Shaw’s 24-ball 43. It is the team’s highest-ever total after five overs in an ODI, according to ESPN Cricinfo’s Sampath Bandarupalli. The previous best was 53/0 versus Australia in 2020, at SCG.

First Birthday 50

Ishan Kishan became only the second Indian and overall the 16th player to make his ODI debut on birthday. Gursharan Singh was the first Indian to do so, versus Australia in Hamilton in 1990. After his explosive knock in the chase, he also became the first Indian debutant to score a 50 on his birthday.

Second Fastest 6,000 

Skipper Shikhar Dhawan crossed 6,000 ODI runs in his unbeaten half-century during the first ODI. He became the fourth fastest batsman (140 innings) and second fastest Indian to achieve this feat after Hashim Amla (123), Virat Kohli (136) and Kane Williamson (139). Dhawan also completed 10,000 international runs across all three formats, in the process.

Oldest Captain

Dhawan picked up a captaincy record in the first ODI, as well. At 35 years and 225 days, he became the oldest Indian to make ODI captaincy debut, breaking Mohinder Amarnath’s record at 34 years 37 days versus Pakistan, at Sialkot in 1984.

Club 25

An interesting coincidence took place for both sides in terms of the number 25.

• Dasun Shanaka became the 25th captain for SL in ODIs
• Minod Bhanuka became the 25th keeper for SL in ODIs
• Shikhar Dhawan became the 25th captain for India in ODIs
• Ishan Kishan became the 25th keeper for India in ODIs

Image credits: Twitter/BCCI