Surya-Gambhir era begins with 43-run T20I triumph against Sri Lanka.

PALLEKELE: New captain Suryakumar Yadav led from the front with a breathtaking half-century as India comfortably out-batted Sri Lanka by 43 runs in the opening T20 International to start the Gautam Gambhir era with a victory here on Saturday.

India skipper Suryakumar’s 26-ball 58 and a 74-run opening blitzkrieg in just six overs between openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill took India to 213 for 7.

Despite a fine batting effort from the Sri Lankans till the 15th over, the Indian bowlers did well enough to bowl out the home team for 170 in 19.2 overs.

The Indian bowlers did remarkably well towards the back-end, utilising the slowness of the track to provide the team 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The spinners — Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi and rookie Riyan Parag — snared six of the 10 wickets.

From 149 for 2, Sri Lanka lost seven wickets for just 21 runs as the final quarter of the match was dominated by the Indian bowlers after a listless first 15.