Charith Asalanka's quickfire 26-ball 44 wasn't good enough to save Sri Lanka in the first T20I as India sealed a 38-run win at Colombo on Sunday.

Chasing 165 for a win, Sri Lanka were undone by India's clinical bowling performance. The pick of the bowlers was Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who wiped out the Sri Lankan tail with a 4/22. However, the most impactful bowling came from Yuzvendra Chahal, who kept things tight with 1/19 in the middle overs, which included the crucial wicket of Asalanka.

Deepak Chahar picked up a couple of wickets while debutant Varun Chakaravarthy returned his maiden international wicket off a smart piece of stumping from Ishan Kishan to dismiss skipper Dasun Shanaka.

Earlier, being put in to bat first, India posted 164-5 on the board, courtesy of Suryakumar Yadav's 50 and Shikhar Dhawan's 46. India lost Prithvi Shaw in the very first ball but skipper Dhawan and Sanju Samson (27) steadied the ship with 36-ball 51-run stand.

Suryakumar Yadav continued his brilliant form from the ODIs to score a 34-ball 50, which was studded with five boundaries and two maximums. However, soon after scoring the half-century, he holed one out while trying to go the aerial route for quick runs. Ishan Kishan tried to accelerate in the end with a 14-ball 20* to guide India to a respectable total.