Watch: Ravindra Jadeja whips out Pushpa celebration after taking wicket
Cricket and cinema crossed paths once more on Thursday when Indian player Ravindra Jadeja brought out a famous gesture from Allu Arjun-starrer Pushpa as part of his celebration after he dismissed Dinesh Chandimal during the first T20I between India and Sri Lanka in Lucknow on Thursday.
Chandimal had stepped out of his crease and Jadeja’s ball turned and beat the outside edge before wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan took off the bails as the Sri Lankan was stumped.
Earlier, Ishan Kishan sizzled with a blering 56-ball 89 before Shreyas Iyer blazed his way to a whirlwind unbeaten 57 as India posted a challenging 199 for 2 against Sri Lanka.
The left-handed batter, who failed to capitalise on his starts in the preceding white-ball series against West Indies, finally lived up to his multi-million dollar IPL tag with a whirlwind innings studded with 10 hits to the fence and three sixes.
The 23-year-old from Jharkhand forged a 111-run innings for the opening wicket with his skipper Rohit Sharma (44 off 32) to put India on course for a formidable total after being invited to bat first.
Iyer then grabbed the opportunity with both hands, smashing five fours and two sixes in 28 balls to take India to a huge total.
Ishan Kishan was the aggressor among the two openers as he exploded in the third over, making Chamika Karunaratne pay for erring in his line and length with three boundaries as India amassed 15 runs from the over.
Lahiru Kumara bowled with a lot of pace but Ishan came up with two good-looking shots — one a pull on the front foot which went over the ropes and the other one a flick across the mid-wicket boundary.
Left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama was next hammered for a four, while a short ball from Chameera was deposited into the stands as Kishan continued his demolition act which yielded 58 in the powerplay.
Sri Lanka was also guilty of dropping Ishan with spinner Jeffrey Vandersay spilling him on his own bowling in the 7th over.
The left-hander soon went on to score his second T20 fifty as India amassed 98 off 10 overs.
(With PTI inputs)
