Suryakumar's batting is amazing to watch: Dhawan

Indian skipper Shikhar Dhawan said he enjoys watching Suryakumar Yadav bat after the right-hander from Mumbai slammed a 34-ball 50 in India's 38-run win over Sri Lanka in the first T2OI on Sunday (July 25). This was Suryakumar's second T20I fifty in three innings. 

"I thought we were 10-15 runs short. I feel we played quite well after losing early wickets. It was about one or two boundaries, we knew we could get going," Dhawan said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

"SKY is a great player and we enjoy watching him bat. He took the pressure off me and the way he plays those calculated shots is amazing to watch."

Dhawan was confident that his spinners would do well and it was vindicated by Yuzvendra Chahal and Krunal Pandya with debutant Varun Chakravarthy doing well to make a late comeback.

"They were playing well. We knew our spinners will do the job on that wicket. Bhuvi bowled well, so was KP (Krunal). Everyone stood up and even Varun too playing his first match did well giving a few runs and got the wicket. He's (Varun) difficult to pick, I am very happy for him."

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar, who won India the second ODI with the bat, were amongst wickets in the first T20I. While Bhuvneshwar finished with figures of 4/22, Chahar took two crucial wickets in an over to turn the game in India's favour.

"There was some swing on offer with the new ball but the Sri Lankan batsmen managed to get a couple of boundaries, mostly via edges. The same thing happened with Deepak too. The key was to bowl as many dot deliveries as possible in the middle overs and then use your change-up ball at death overs. We managed to execute our plans tonight," Bhuvneshwar told teammate Yuzvendra Chahal on bcci.tv.

Meanwhile, Chahar said: "The ball didn't swing much in the ODIs but there was some movement tonight. The Sri Lankan batsmen had to go for runs in the powerplay because they knew things would get difficult after the first six overs.

"I find it easier to bowl after the powerplay because I get five fielders outside. I mostly bowl in the first six overs but I enjoy having three extra fielders outside the circle. I just wanted to bowl according to the field." 

Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka felt that a target of 165 was gettable.

"I think 164 was chaseable on this wicket. I think their bowlers upfront started really well. And then there were not enough middle-order batters to finish the game. I think our bowlers did an amazing job. I hope we come out and do better than this in the next game."