Jos Buttler smashed an unbeaten 55-ball 68, while Sam Curran and Adil Rashid took two wickets each as England thrashed Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the opening T20 International to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series here.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Chasing a 130-run target set by Sri Lanka, the England batsmen, led by Buttler, reached the target in the first ball of the 17th over with 17 balls remaining on Wednesday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
England openers, Jason Roy and Buttler, took advantage of an inexperienced Sri Lanka bowling attack, scoring 61 runs in the first six overs of the power play.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Buttler's innings, with eight boundaries and a six, earned him the Player-of-the-Match award.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Sri Lanka skipper Kusal Perera won the toss and elected to bat. However, the visitors did not get off to a good start and Avishka Fernando was dismissed in the second over for a duck.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Perera, along with Dasun Shanaka, tried to build the innings, but Adil Rashid dismissed the Sri Lanka skipper on 30 just when he had started looking dangerous.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Dasun Shanaka, Sri Lanka's only batsman to score a half century (50 off 44 balls), took the visitors to a fighting total. This was Shanaka's second half-century of his T20I career.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The second match will be played here later on Thursday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Brief scores: Sri Lanka 129\/7 in 20 overs (K. Perera 30, D. Shanaka 50; S. Curran 2\/25, A. Rashid 2\/17) lost to England 130\/2 in 17.1 overs (J. Buttler 68 not out, J. Roy 36) by eight wickets.<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2021\/06\/jos-buttler-powers-england-to-8-wicket-win-over-sri-lanka-in-1st-test.jpg", "alt_img": "Cricket Image for Jos Buttler Powers England To 8 Wicket Win Over Sri Lanka In 1st Test", "alt_title": "Jos Buttler", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "Jos Buttler Powers England To 8 Wicket Win Over Sri Lanka In 1st T20I On Cricketnmore", "seo_desc": "England thrashed Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the opening T20 International.", "seo_keywords": "Jos Buttler, England vs Sri Lanka, Sri lanka tour of England 2021", "tag": "", "tagging": "Jos Buttler,England vs Sri Lanka,Sri lanka tour of England 2021,", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "1", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "jos-buttler-powers-england-to-8-wicket-win-over-sri-lanka-in-1st-t20i", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "1927", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "1", "auto_link": "1", "created": "2021-06-24 11:10:19", "updated": "2021-06-24 11:11:20", "img_from": "Image Source: Twitter", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": "Jos Buttler, England, Sri Lanka, England vs Sri Lanka, Buttler, ENG v SL", "livescore_text": null, "livescore_link": null, "btn_text": null, "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "21", "jio_date": "2021-06-24 11:10:19", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2021-06-24 11:10:19", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/jos-buttler-powers-england-to-8-wicket-win-over-sri-lanka-in-1st-t20i-78564" }