Back home after a tour to Australia, India would have envisaged playing on a nice, brown and slow wicket, with plenty of assistance to the spinners. Instead, they got a green top in Pune, with Sri Lanka making full use of the assistance to the fast bowlers by nipping the Indian batsmen out, before hauling down the target to take a 1-0 series lead.
The first T20 in this series did not go according to plan for India, with the batsmen falling prey to the Sri Lankan fast bowlers on a wicket that offered plenty of movement, with the home team's bowlers then not able to do enough to derail Sri Lanka's chase completely.
[Get the story on the Pune pitch HERE]
India, asked to bat first by Dinesh Chandimal and a Sri Lankan team missing most of their stars, crumbled quicker than a cookie to 101 all out in 18.5 overs.
In reply, Sri Lanka wobbled a little, but not enough, to make a real game of it, with the visitors eventually getting to the target with five wickets in hand and two overs to spare.
[See what the Twitter trolls were up to after India's batting collapse HERE]
The tone for the match was set in the first over, when Kasun Rajitha, the 22-year-old right-arm fast bowler, picked up two wickets in his first six balls. Rohit Sharma mistimed a drive to mid-off, before Ajinkya Rahane got a leading edge to cover.
With Shikhar Dhawan then gifting his wicket away with an awful across-the-line shot, also to Rajitha, India were in a tonne of trouble at 32/3 in 5 overs.
The onus was on Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh to put on a partnership, and for a few overs it looked like they might do just that, but then another one of Sri Lanka's raw, unknown bowlers – Dasun Shanaka – came to the fore, castling Raina (20, 20b, 1x4, 1x6), before sending captain MS Dhoni back with a short delivery.
Yuvraj also succumbed to the short ball, this time to Dushmantha Chameera, and from there it was just a matter of if India could scrape past the 100-run mark. They did that thanks to R Ashwin, who top scored with his 31 (24b, 5x4), but 101, was never going to be enough, even on a pitch that was offering plenty to the fast bowlers.
Sri Lanka made heavyish weather of the chase, losing two early wickets as Ashish Nehra used the conditions to good effect, but a 39-run partnership between Chamara Kapugedera (25, 26b, 4x4) and Dinesh Chandimal (35, 35b, 1x4, 2x6) ended those brilliant-Indian-comeback hopes, as Sri Lanka eventually eased home.
Get the highlights of the 1st T20 match between India and Sri Lanka HERE
