India A vs India B, Duleep Trophy 2024 LIVE Score: KL Rahul© AFP

India all-rounder Riyan Parag emerged as an unlikely chief destructor with the ball as the national team took on Sri Lanka in the first T20I on Saturday. Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis gave the Lankans a fine start, scoring 84 runs for the first wicket before their chase started to fall apart. Riyan Parag, in just 1.2 overs, bagged the important wickets of Kmindu Mendis, Maheesh Theekshana and Dilshan Madushanka as India bowled out the hosts for just 170 runs, winning the match by 43 runs. After the game, Parag revealed how head coach Gautam Gambhir prepared him for different situations in the match.

In a video shared by the BCCI, Parag featured with skipper Suryakumar Yadav and all-rounder Axar Patel. It was in the video that Parag revealed the chat he had with Gambhir about his bowling, especially in certain zones of the game.

“I love bowling. I bowl as much as I can behind the scenes. At the nets, there was a lot of communication regarding where to bowl and how to bowl. There were preparations for such situations with Gautam sir. If I get bowling in the 16th and the 17th over and the wicket is spinning, then where I have to bowl. The boys made it easier for me, I just had to bowl stump to stump, and the ball was turning as well,” Parag said in the video.

Showcasing some of #TeamIndia‘s stars from first T20I #SLvIND | @surya_14kumar | @akshar2026 | @ParagRiyan pic.twitter.com/LRG1ZiIiQa

— BCCI (@BCCI) July 28, 2024

Suryakumar also hailed Riyan’s efforts with the ball, saying that the Rajasthan Royals star has an X-factor.

“This could be a Riyan Parag special only as I have seen him bowling earlier as well during the IPL, at the nets. During the press conference as well, I said that Riyan Parag has an ‘X’ factor,” Suryakumar said in the video.

“If batters continue to bat like that and the bowlers will continue helping like that on the ground, then my job will get easier. What the situation was, I set the tempo of the game with my batting. We have so much depth in batting, they have so much skill that if our skill doesn’t work then the others will take care of things.”

Suryakumar also lauded the batting unit, keeping his fingers crossed about such performances to continue.

“Not a captain, I want to be a leader. It is good to see so much support in this country as well. Sri Lanka is just two-and-a-half hours away only, feels like we are playing in India only. I hope we keep getting the support like this, and the rest we will take care,” he added.

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 in Pallekele on Saturday. It was India skipper Suryakumar’s 26-ball 58 and a 74-run opening blitzkrieg in just six overs between openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill that 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. Kusal Mendis (45 off 27 balls) and Pathum Nissanka (79 off 47 balls) were not as brutal as their Indian counterparts but close enough to increase the creases on new coach Gautam Gambhir’s forehead as they didn’t spare any bad balls, getting at least one if not two boundaries per over.

The 84-run opening stand was finally broken by Arshdeep Singh when Mendis couldn’t pick the slower one.

However Nissanka didn’t lose tempo as Hardik Pandya (0/41 in 4 overs) was clearly not in his element, as he consistently missed his length, making it difficult for the new skipper to look for options.

Pandya, who was recently bypassed for national captaincy, is always more comfortable with a good sixth bowling option, which wasn’t there.

Axar Patel (2/38 in 4 overs) was very flat at the onset but got the breakthroughs when it mattered the most, bringing all his experience into effect.

Ravi Bishnoi (1/37 in 4 overs) is slowly becoming very predictable with hardly any leg-breaks to surprise the batters.

The right handers knew that the deliveries will come into them and they got inside the line to out-manoeuvre the wrist spinner.

The absence of Jasprit Bumrah was evident and it was only the scoreboard pressure that helped the ‘Men in Blue’ prevail in the end once Axar’s arm ball got rid of Nissanka. He also got Kusal Perera (20) in the same over as the match decisively tilted in India’s favour.

Once Bishnoi ended the spell with rival skipper Charith Asalanka’s wicket, India completely gained control.

Skipper Suryakumar took a calculative punt of giving inexperienced Riyan Parag (3/5 in 1.2 overs) the 17th over and he removed Kamindu Mendis to justify his skipper’s faith. The ever-improving Arshdeep (2/24 in 3 overs) also got his share of scalps as Riyan then finished the proceedings without much ado. Earlier, Suryakumar was swift and brutal in equal measure on his first day in office as the Indian top-order plundered Sri Lankan bowling to post a commanding total after being put into bat.

In his first match as permanent skipper of India’s T20 team, Suryakumar made a firm statement with a sparkling knock, maintaining his aggressive approach that made him the world’s premier batter.

While Suryakumar was at his dominant best while hitting eight fours and two sixes en route his 20th half-century, the foundation for a big score was laid by young stars Jaiswal (41 off 20 balls) and Gill (34 off 15 balls) in a 74-run opening stand in the powerplay.

Rishabh Pant (49 off 33 balls) struggled initially but did well to end just one short of half-century with some audacious shots both in-front and behind the square.

If Jaiswal’s approach was a bit on muscular side, Gill showed his artistry, bleeding the Lankans with thousand cuts.

The refreshing part was Gill’s approach in the very first game under new coach where he didn’t exactly employ the safety first approach.

Gill (34 off 15 balls) was out playing one shot too many off the final ball in the powerplay, but by then India had scored 74, their highest total in first six overs this season.

Jaiswal failed to read Wanindu Hasaranga’s well disguised googly as the southpaw played for the conventional leg-break, bringing in skipper Surya and Pant together.

Suryakumar played his customary inside the line shot over fine leg for six and four. He was lucky to survive as he was also dropped once trying to repeat the shot and also got a four in the process.

The team century came in 8.4 overs as the Indian skipper didn’t let the momentum drop even as Pant was struggling to middle the ball.

Once Suryakumar was adjudged leg before to a Matheesha Pathirana yorker, the final few overs saw Pant finally breaking shackles as a helicopter shot off Asitha landed into the stands and it was followed by a boundary.

Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir wanted Tilak Varma for the T20I and ODI series against Sri Lanka but the youngster missed out due to injury, according to a report by Times of India. Tilak has been out of action since Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 due to hand injury. The report claimed that his absence was a big boost for Riyan Parag who was included in the squads for both formats. “TOI has learnt that Riyan Parag’s selection for both the white-ball squads for the Sri Lanka tour was helped by the fact that middle-order batsman Tilak Varma is currently injured,” the Times of India reported.

A source close to the developments also took Times of India that Parag is rated quite highly for his talent and his bowling and fielding skills also played a massive role in his selection for the Sri Lanka tour.

“Parag is highly talented and has improved his attitude towards the game by several notches. He’s now looking to stay at the wicket. To add to his value, he can bowl decently, and is a terrific fielder to boot. The selectors want to nurture him for the future,” the source told Times of India.

“He can bowl yorkers, slower balls and employ other variations at the death. That makes him a good option in white-ball cricket,” the source added.

The T20I series against Sri Lanka will be the first assignment for Gambhir as the Indian cricket team head coach. The team will be playing under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav who piped Hardik Pandya in the race to succeed the retired Rohit Sharma as the Indian cricket team T20I captain.

India’s squad for T20I series against Sri Lanka:

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh, Riyan Parag, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohd. Siraj.

India’s squad for ODI series against Sri Lanka:

Rohit Sharma (C), Ꮪhubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana.

India head coach Gautam Gambhir© X (Twitter)

Following his side’s series win against Zimbabwe, Indian all-rounder Riyan Parag, who made his international debut in this series, said that it was special making his first appearance in Indian colours along with under-19 teammate Abhishek Sharma and lauded skipper Shubman Gill for his leadership skills throughout the five-match affair. A fine four-wicket spell by Mukesh Kumar and a half-century by Sanju Samson were the highlights as India defeated Zimbabwe by 42 runs in the fifth and final T20I at Harare to secure the series on Sunday.

Speaking after the game in the post-match presentation, Parag said that everyone “woke up” after a loss in the first game. He also said that he and Abhishek, both teammates from the 2018 U19 World Cup, opened their jerseys from the packaging together when they got it.

“We opened our jerseys together. I went to his room, he opened it first and then I did. We played the 2018 World Cup together and for the next 6 years we did not play, now we are playing. Doing it with him was pretty special,” said Parag.

On his partnership with Rajasthan Royals (RR) teammate Sanju Samson, Parag said that he had a talk with the wicketkeeper-batter about having a partnership like they used to have while batting for RR together at numbers three and four, respectively.

“Once we had wickets in the end, we could go big and it was a tricky wicket, glad we could do well,” he added.

On playing with skipper Gill, Parag said that it was nice playing under Gill, who has been playing with him since he was in under-16 cricket.

“He has been like a captain, even when he was not captain. In the field, he has been exceptional,” he added.

Parag did not have a memorable debut though, coming after scoring 573 runs in 16 matches in the IPL 2024 for RR. He could score just 24 runs in two innings and did not get any wicket.

India has won the series 4-1.

Coming to the match, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field first. They had India at 40/3 at one point until a 65-run partnership between Sanju Samson (58 in 45 balls, with a four and four sixes) and Riyan Parag (22 in 24 balls, with a six) and a fine cameo from Shivam Dube (26 in 12 balls, with two fours and two sixes) took India to 167/6 in their 20 overs.

Blessing Muzarbani (2/19) was the pick of the bowlers for Zimbabwe. Richard Ngarva, Sikandar Raza, and Brandon Mavuta also got a wicket each.

In the run-chase, Zimbabwe had a fine start and was in the game for a good amount of time, until Shivam Dube (2/25) delivered a game-changing spell and a quick run-out of Zimbabwe skipper Sikandar Raza. Dion Myers (34 in 32 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Tadiwanashe Marumani (27 in 24 balls, with five fours) and Faraz Akram (27 in 13 balls, with two fours and two sixes) put up a fight for Zimbabwe, but Mukesh Kumar (4/22) cleaned up the tail.

Zimbabwe was bundled out for 125 runs, losing by 42 runs with nine balls left.

Shivam secured the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his all-round performance. Washington Sundar, who scored 28 runs in two innings with the best score of 27 and took eight wickets in the series, was given the ‘Player of the Series’ award.

India vs Zimbabwe Live Streaming 2nd T20I Live Telecast: When And Where To Watch Match Live© Instagram

India’s 13-run defeat to 12th-ranked Zimbabwe came after the young Indian batting lineup collapsed and were bowled out for just 102 runs. Captain Shubman Gill and Washington Sundar were the only two batters to score more than 20 runs, as the entire middle order failed to fire. From debutants Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag to first team hopefuls Rinku Singh and Ruturaj Gaikwad, it was a day to forget for Team India. Parag and Rinku, in particular, faced a lot of backlash from unhappy fans on social media.

Riyan Parag – who became the first player of Assam and north-eastern India to play for Team India – did not have the best debut, making just 2 runs in 3 balls. Rinku made even less, getting out for a two-ball duck.

Recently, Riyan Parag had made a statement that he does not like to watch the T20 World Cup as he’d rather play in it. Fans attacked the statement as Parag faltered in his first India innings.

On the other hand, Rinku had narrowly missed out on India’s 15-member T20 World Cup 2024 squad, as India favoured Shivam Dube and extra spinners. Hoping to impress in the Zimbabwe tour, Rinku, who has had a short but successful T20 career so far, failed to fire and take India to victory.

India have picked a host of debutants and youngsters in their squad for the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe. With most of the T20 World Cup squad rested, the side is being led by Shubman Gill, who is making his captaincy debut for India.

Earlier, India had restricted Zimbabwe to just 115, courtesy of Ravi Bishnoi‘s 4/13. However, Zimbabwe, who had failed to qualify for the 20-team T20 World Cup altogether, put up an inspired bowling performance to bundle India out for just 102 in Harare.

Our very own once the academy topper from IPL batch, Riyan Parag started his international on high notes pic.twitter.com/CTMGS4TicJ

— TukTuk Academy (@TukTuk_Academy) July 6, 2024

Riyan Parag is officially a meme material #INDvsZIM pic.twitter.com/JOydP7EsPl

— Ctrl C Ctrl Memes (@Ctrlmemes_) July 6, 2024

“Play Rinku Singh in WC”

“Get Shivam Dube a niggle”

Rinku shut down all critics with his batting show today pic.twitter.com/UBpuq3K5H2

— Dinda Academy (@academy_dinda) July 6, 2024

Common knowledge

Shivam Dube >>> Rinku Singh pic.twitter.com/640f6Qg4h4

— (@Shivayaaah) July 6, 2024

Team India’s youngsters would look to turnaround their fortunes as the two teams square off in the second match of the series on Sunday.

Receiving the iconic blue Team India cap for the first time is an honour very few get to experience. But the moment was made even more special for Riyan Parag, as he was presented his first India cap by his own father, before making his debut in India’s first T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare. Riyan Parag’s father, Parag Das, is a former first class cricketer for Assam. Riyan also became the first-ever player from Assam to play for the Indian cricket team.

Parag finished as the third-highest run-scorer in IPL 2024, with 573 runs for the Rajasthan Royals, who finished third. His tremendous season, batting at no. 4, made it impossible for the selectors to ignore him, as a young India squad was picked for the five-match T20I tour to Zimbabwe.

Watch: Riyan Parag receives his debut India cap from his father

A son’s dream takes flight, and a father’s heart swells with pride! Riyan Parag, you’ve made Assam proud!

And what makes it even more special is receiving his Cap from the person who inspired him the most – his father!#TeamIndia #ZIMvIND #RiyanParag pic.twitter.com/PedtOTn3Z7

— Assam Cricket Association (@assamcric) July 6, 2024

Parag wasn’t the only one to make his debut in the first T20I, as Abhishek Sharma and Rajasthan Royals teammate Dhruv Jurel also received their first T20I caps.

Parag will have to make a stellar impression in the Zimbabwe series to remain a fixture in India’s T20I setup. This is because the world’s no.2-ranked batsman Suryakumar Yadav currently holds the no. 4 spot in India’s batting lineup in the shortest format.

India vs Zimbabwe

This is India’s first series after their historic 2024 T20 World Cup victory in the Caribbean and USA. After the tournament, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from T20Is, leaving the door open for youngsters to stake a claim as a regular part of India’s T20I XI.

Shubman Gill will be captaining Team India for the first time. It’s his first taste of international captaincy, having already become Gujarat Titans’ captain ahead of IPL 2024.

Three players from India’s T20 World Cup-winning team also feature in the Zimbabwe tour squad: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube.