India tour of Sri Lanka: The date was- 10 February 2009, the venue was- Sri Lanka R Premadasa Stadium. Then the first match in T20 history was played between India and Sri Lanka. That match was no less than a Bollywood suspense and thriller story, because at one time the Indian team had almost lost that match. Then in that match, Yusuf Pathan and his younger brother Irfan Pathan became trouble-shooters for the Indian team and led Team India to victory.
The T20 series between India and Sri Lanka is starting from 27th July. In such a situation, let us tell you what happened in that first historic match.
Tillakaratne Dilshan was commanding Sri Lanka in that match. The command of the Indian T20 team was in the hands of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Dilshan won the toss and decided to bat first. Sri Lanka, playing first, scored 171/4 thanks to the innings of Tillakaratne Dilshan (61) and Sanath Jayasuriya (33). Yusuf Pathan was the most successful bowler from India, who took 2 wickets for 23 runs in 4 overs.
Now it was the turn of India’s run chase. Considering India’s strong batting line-up at that time, this target did not seem difficult at all. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag came to open. But Sehwag (1) and Gautam Gambhir (13) remained at Team India’s score of 14 runs.
Then Suresh Raina (35) and Yuvraj Singh (32) made a brilliant partnership for the third wicket and took the scoreboard to 81. After this, the Indian team lost wickets one after the other and at one time the score became 115/7. Malinga Bandara then spoiled the condition of Team India by taking three wickets in the middle overs.
After the fall of 7 wickets, Team India needed 57 runs from 29 balls. Jadeja was out as the seventh wicket and after him Irfan Pathan came to the crease. Yusuf Pathan was already present at the wicket. After this, Pathan Brothers together changed the gear of batting. Bandara, who had taken three wickets, gave away 17 runs in his own over. After this, Team India’s hopes were awakened once again.
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After Bandara’s over, Dilhara Fernando came to bowl, which was the 17th over of the Indian innings. In this the Pathan brothers scored 12 runs.
Now India needed 29 runs from 18 balls, both the brothers scored 10 runs in Lasith Malinga’s over. In the 19th over of Dilhara, both the brothers scored 13 runs. India needed only 5 runs in the last over to win. Where in this over of Malinga, India achieved the target by scoring 174/7 with 4 balls remaining.
The heroes of victory in this match were Pathan Brothers. While Yusuf Pathan scored 22 runs in 10 balls, Irfan Pathan scored 33 runs in 16 balls. Player of the match Yusuf had also taken 2 wickets in the match, while Irfan had also taken 1 wicket. On 10 February 2009, the first T20 International match was played at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo. Where India had won this tough match by 3 wickets.