The first match of the ODI series between India and Sri Lanka was played at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. During Sri Lanka's innings, Krunal Pandya showed great sportsmanship by hugging Sri Lanka's Charith Asalanka at non-striker's end while bowling the 22nd over to Dhananjaya de Silva.
The video of Krunal Pandya's gesture is becoming quite viral on social media and also triggered some mixed reactions from netizens on Twitter, with some people calling it the "Dravid effect".
While bowling the 22nd over, Pandya unintentionally struck non-striker batsman Charith Asalanka during an attempt to stop the ball after Dhananjaya de Silva hit one of his deliveries straight back at him. Krunal Pandya was seen hugging him after the incident and the game went on.
Talking about the match, Krunal Pandya was the pick of Indian bowlers as he performed impressively with the ball. The all-rounder gave only 26 runs in his 10 overs and bagged one wicket.
Reacting to Krunal Pandya's 'calm avatar', some netizens came up with hilarious memes.
Sri Lanka, batting first, scored 262/9 in 50 overs. Chamika Karunaratne scored the highest 43 runs for Sri Lanka.
For India, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each. The famous spin bowling pair of Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav once again played together in this match for India. Last time, both spinners played together for the national squad was in the ODI World Cup 2019.
Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav made their ODI debut for India. Ishan Kishan has become the second Indian cricketer to make his ODI debut on his birthday. Before Kishan, the Indian cricketer to debut on his birthday was Gursharan Singh, who played his first and last ODI against Australia on 8th March 1990 in Hamilton.