The fate of the match was swinging like a pendulum. Once it looked like Sri Lanka, again it looked like India was going to win the first ODI of the series. But in the end none of that happened. Neither team won.
A low scoring thriller of 460 runs was played at the Premadasa Stadium. Both teams scored half of that run. That is, the match ended in a tie. Before this, the last T20 also did not see results in the main match; the game went up to the super over. There is no super over rule in ODIs. So equality is not broken anymore.
After winning the toss in Colombo and batting first, the Lankans were under pressure at the start. Opener Avishka Fernando returned to the dressing room in the third over of the innings.
Later, another opener Pathum Nisanka gave some indication of taking the pressure off Kushal Mendis. However, the top-middle order was in complete disarray in front of the Indian bowling skills. They lost 5 wickets for 101 runs. The 56 runs were Nissanka's singles.
Later Vellalaghe settled in the second part. And Sri Lanka got the challenging capital in the end riding on a great innings of 67 runs that was well timed.
In reply, Rohit Sharma gave India a great start. He played an innings of 58 runs off 47 balls. 75 runs came from the opening pair. But after that, India could not maintain the rhythm. There was a medium-sized pair and then several wickets were lost.
The match saw the innings not once, twice, but three times. Picked up 3 wickets for 12 runs after the opening pair. After Virat Kohli-Shreyas Iyer's partnership of 43 runs, they took two wickets for 2 runs. After Lokesh Rahul and Akshar Patel's partnership of 67 runs, the team lost 2 wickets for 8 runs. Sometimes only Kuldeep Yadav's wicket can be considered an exception. India lost the last two wickets by the same run.
But just before that, Shivam Dube tried hard to win the match alone. However, he was dismissed for 25 runs as the ninth batsman, after which Arshdeep Singh could not get another run. Arshdeep departed as the last batsman on the very next ball. Despite coming very close, India could not win. Both teams have to be satisfied with a tie.