Nidahas Trophy 2018, 1st T20I: Four positive takeaways for the Men in Blue

A young and dynamic Indian team lost the first T20I of the Nidahas Trophy against Sri Lanka by five wickets. There were various things that went wrong for Rohit Sharma and co., including the poor batting display in the death overs and the absence of a fifth bowler.

However, the team did well on some fronts.

Here are four points which Rohit Sharma and Co. would like to carry on for the next game against Bangladesh on Thursday.

#1 Good Recovery in the middle overs

After losing the wickets of the skipper Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, the team wanted a good partnership that could stabilize the situation of the team. Till the third over, the run-rate of the team was not able to go beyond four runs per over.

India lost the wicket of Suresh Raina in the third over and at this point, a much-needed partnership was required from Shikhar Dhawan and Manish Pandey. They were successful in stabilizing the situation of the team after a vulnerable start.

They added 95 runs in 64 balls for the fourth wicket, out of which Pandey scored 37 runs off 35 balls. This partnership proved to be significant as it stabilized the overall run rate of the team.

#2 Smart Batting by Rishabh Pant

Although Rishabh Pant scored with a strike rate of only 100, one would definitely call his innings a classy one. He was struggling on the pitch for the first few balls of his innings and instead of playing his shots, he opted to give more of the strike to Dhawan.

Shikhar Dhawan had completed his half-century before Pant came into bat. Although India's situation had stabilized, it was important for the team to fetch as many runs as possible. Pant worked smartly to give Dhawan more balls to play, who convert them into big runs. The Delhi youngster was struggling to hit big shots, which he realized on time, and thus, started rotating the strike. Dhawan, who was well settled at the crease, continued playing his shots, which took the team to a respectable total.

#3 Spinners bringing India back into the game

Kusal Perera’s fearless innings helped Sri Lanka in crossing the 50 run mark in just 27 balls. In order to come back into the match, India were in desperate need of wickets, especially that of Kusal Perera. Here, Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar came in as a silver lining for the team.

While Sri Lanka was racing towards victory, Chahal got the breakthrough of Chandimal in the 9th over. However, Perera was still at the crease hitting big shots.

In the 13th over, Washington Sundar was back into the attack, and he was the lone hope to take the wicket of the dangerous Perera. In the 13th over, Sundar's flight deceived the Sri Lankan, and Kartik took the bails off to stump him out. Soon, in the 15th over, Chahal took the wicket of Upul Tharanga, thus getting India back into the game.

#4 Shardul Thakur's Phenomenal Comeback

Shardul Thakur was given the worst nightmare of his life in the third over where he conceded 27 runs to Perera. This was the second most expensive over in T20Is by an Indian after Stuart Binny's 32 run over against West Indies in 2016.

Shardul Thakur was under immense pressure and no one expected him to bowl again in the match, but Rohit Sharma had different plans. Thakur was handed over the ball in the 14th over and he made the best use out of it as he conceded only 14 runs in his next two overs.

This was a phenomenal comeback for the youngster, which helped India gain some momentum back and create pressure on the Sri Lankan batsmen.