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11:18 PM: A thumping win for Sri Lanka in the series opener against New Zealand at Dambulla. The hosts close the game by 45 runs (DLS method) and take the 1-0 lead in the 3-match series. Sri Lanka skipper Charith Asalanka spun the coin in his favor opting to bat first. The game was halted twice by rain with Sri Lanka scoring 324/5 thanks to Kusal Mendis's career best 143 in 128 balls and Avishka Fernando's 100 in 115 balls. The duo added a record breaking 206 runs for the 2nd wicket to help Sri Lanka to a match winning total. Rain halted play for almost 2 hours with Sri Lanka yet to face 4 deliveries. The game was then reduced to a 27-over fixture, New Zealand requiring to chase 221 in 27 overs. The openers started well, added 88 runs in 13.2 overs. Will Young scored 48 in 46 balls and debutant Tim Robinson hit 35 in 36. Maheesh Theekshana removed both the batters in the 14th over with skipper Charith Asalanka dismissing Henry Nicholls in the 15th before returning in the 17th to send Mark Chapman in the hut, Theekshana grabbing a stunner at midwicket. The Kiwis could never recover from the damage in the middle overs with only Michael Bracewell scoring an unbeaten 34 in 32 deliveries. The Lankan spinners had a ball in the field sharing 5 out of nine wickets amongst them. It was left arm seamer Dilshan Madushanka who finished with 3/39 claiming Mitchell Hay, Nathan Smith and Ish Sodhi as his scalps. Skipper Asalanka provided crucial breakthroughs with 2/15, Theekshana was excellent with 2/32 and displayed sheer class in the field as well. Both sides will now head to Pallekele to face off on Sunday in the 2nd ODI. Hang around for the post match presentation.

Maheesh Theekshana: "Yeah, I feel I was just at the right spot, it came to be pretty quickly and I just put my hand on it. (On the Chapman dismissal) I think, when I came off the field, I had a chat with the Coach. We wanted to mix-up with our length and change our pace too. I worked out well for us. I think we just wanted to bowl wicket to wicket. I did not bowl well in the powerplay, Asitha bowled well with the new ball. We wanted to keep things tight and everyone did well. Charith knows the conditions pretty well. He batted in these conditions early on and I always have a chat with him. Really happy for the bowlers."

Time for the Post-Match Presentations.

Player of the Match: Kusal Mendis (143)

Kusal Mendis (Player of the Match): "No, I was not aware of that. (On scoring the highest individual score as a SL batter) Yeah, Pathum got out early. The wicket was a touch slow. Me and Avishka had a chat to rotate strike for 15 overs and then we will accelerate. No, I played my natural game. I managed my innings and accelerated as the innings progressed."

Mitchell Santner (New Zealand Captain): "It could be a challenge to start on these wickets. The required rate was 9 or 10 so we had to keep going. When you lose wickets in clubs, its always a challenge. With the rain, dew and outfield being faster, we were quite confident at the halfway stage. The ball didn't spin much but it was up and down. It was a learning today for sure. We bowled too badly. They had a great partnership and showed us how to bat on that wicket. They played great shots and looked very very busy out there. With the reduced target we were confident with the bat but they bowled really well and made it challenging."

Charith Asalanka (Sri Lanka Captain): "(On his bowling) I cant say anything to be honest. (laughs) Yeah, on the drinks break we had a chat on the partnership. We wanted to break the partnership at the earliest and the guys did really well. Yeah, it was difficult to bowl with the wet ball but the bowlers did a terrific job. (On the Toss) Off course the toss was important, I wanted to bat first and obviously Avishka & Kushal batted really well. The best thing was, both of them got Hundreds. Basically when we started, we were short of 1 bowler. The plan was when a new batter came in, I wanted to bowl and rotate the spinners."

That's it from our coverage of the opening One-day international fixture. Ninaad Dixit here signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Pritam Dey and scorer/analyst Zeeshan Naiyer. Stay tuned for more cricketing action from around the world.