Knew spinners would do the job on this wicket: Dhawan

Colombo, July 26 (IANS) Shikhar Dhawan, India's stand-in skipper for the tour of Sri Lanka, said he had faith in his spinners to pull off a win in the first T20 International against Sri Lanka. India defeated the home team by 38 runs to take 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

"We knew our spinners will do the job on that wicket," said Dhawan after the match at the post-match presentation.

"Bhuvi bowled well, so was KP (Krunal Pandya). Everyone stood up and even Varun [Chakravarthy] too playing his first match did well giving a few runs and got the wicket," added Dhawan.

Sri Lanka had got off to a good start raising 50 in seven overs while chasing 164. However, even before reaching 50, they had lost two key wickets to spinners Krunal Pandya (1/16 in two overs) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/19 in four overs).

Leg-spinner Chakravarthy (1/28 in 4 overs) too chipped in. Altogether, the spinners conceded 63 runs in 10 overs and picked three wickets.

"I thought we were 10-15 runs short. I feel we played quite well after losing early wickets. It was about one or two boundaries, we knew we could get going," said Dhawan, who made 46 off 36 balls.

He praised batsman Suryakumar Yadav, who made 50 off 34 balls with five fours and two sixes.

"He (Yadav) is a great player and we enjoy watching him bat. He took the pressure from me and the way he plays calculated shots was amazing to watch. They were playing well, Prithvi is playing well and he is going to bounce back stronger. He's (Varun) difficult to pick, I am very happy for him," added Dhawan.