Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer take India to 199-2 against SL in 1st T20
Lucknow, Feb 24: Opener Ishan Kishan sizzled with a blistering 56-ball 89 before Shreyas Iyer blazed his way to a whirlwind unbeaten 57 as India posted a challenging 199 for 2 against Sri Lanka in the opening T20I of the three-match series here on Thursday.
The left-handed batter, who failed to capitalise on his starts in the preceding white-ball series against West Indies, finally lived up to his multi-million dollar IPL tag with a whirlwind innings studded with 10 hits to the fence and three sixes.
The 23-year-old from Jharkhand forged a 111-run innings for the opening wicket with his skipper Rohit Sharma (44 off 32) to put India on course for a formidable total after being invited to bat first.
Iyer then grabbed the opportunity with both hands, smashing five fours and two sixes in 28 balls to take India to a huge total.
Ishan Kishan was the aggressor among the two openers as he exploded in the third over, making Chamika Karunaratne pay for erring in his line and length with three boundaries as India amassed 15 runs from the over.
Lahiru Kumara bowled with a lot of pace but Ishan came up with two good-looking shots -- one a pull on the front foot which went over the ropes and the other one a flick across the mid-wicket boundary.
Left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama was next hammered for a four, while a short ball from Chameera was deposited into the stands as Kishan continued his demolition act which yielded 58 in the powerplay.
Sri Lanka was also guilty of dropping Ishan with spinner Jeffrey Vandersay spilling him on his own bowling in the 7th over.
The left-hander soon went on to score his second T20 fifty as India amassed 98 off 10 overs.
Playing second fiddle, skipper Rohit ran the ones and twos hard and picked up two fours along with a cracking slog-sweep over mid-wicket for a six.
Six runs short of a half-century, Rohit was done in by a slow delivery from Lahiru Kumara in the 12th over as as Sri Lanka tried to put breaks.
Ishan Kishan got another reprieve when he had edged one from Vandersay and the ball made its way to the boundary.
After two tight overs, Kishan slapped one over long-on for a maximum and then sent Lahiru Kumara across the third man and deep mid-wicket boundaries as India racked up 17 runs.
Sri Lanka's agony was escalated by their pedestrian bowling in the death overs as Shreyas Iyer took them to the cleaners with the last three overs yielded 44 runs.
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Two Naxalites gunned down in encounter with cops in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur
Bijapur (Chhattisgarh) (PTI): Two Naxalites were killed in an encounter with security personnel in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Thursday, police said.
The exchange of fire broke out in a forest along the Indravati river in the morning when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Naxalite operation, a senior police official said.
After guns fell silent, bodies of two Naxalites, clad in uniform, along with a Self-Loading Rifle, an Insas rifle and a 12-bore rifle were recovered from the spot, he said.
Search operation was still underway, he added.
With this action, at least 25 Maoists have been killed in separate encounters in the state so far this year.
Earlier, 14 Maoists were gunned down in two encounters on January 3 in the Bastar region, which comprises seven districts, including Bijapur.
Last year, 285 Maoists were killed in various encounters with security forces in Chhattisgarh.
The Centre has set a deadline of March 31 this year to eradicate Left-Wing Extremism from the country.
