After losing to Sri Lanka by 32 runs in the second ODI at R. Premadasa Stadium, a disappointed India captain Rohit Sharma said there will be a talk in the team about how their batting fared in the middle overs. For the second time in as many games, the Indian middle-order failed to capitalise on the blazing start provided by Rohit as they crumbled in the face of turn and grip Jeffrey Vandersay got from the dry pitch, as the leg-spinner took 6-33.
It was also the first time that the first six wickets in an ODI innings fell to a spinner, as India were bowled out for 208 in a chase of 241. Sunday’s defeat ends India’s run of 11 consecutive bilateral series (2+ matches) wins in ODIs against Sri Lanka. The last time India failed to win a bilateral series against Sri Lanka was in Dec 1997. “We do understand the nature of this surface and the nature of how the game is going to go as well. It gets really, really tough in the middle overs. So you have to try and capitalize in the powerplay and get as many runs as possible.”
“That’s what both openers were trying to do. But we were just not good enough today. We have played really good cricket in the past but I don’t want to look too much into how we played. But certainly, there is going to be a talk about how we bat in the middle overs,” said Rohit after the match ended.
After promoting Washington Sundar to number four didn’t work in the tied first ODI on Friday, India got Shivam Dube in the same position on Sunday, but it resulted in him falling for a duck. It meant K.L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer were again pushed down in the batting order, which didn’t yield desirable results.
“You have to adapt to what’s in front of you. With left-right (combination), we felt it would be slightly easier to rotate the strike, but that didn’t happen. Credit to Jeffrey, who bowled really well and picked six wickets. Sri Lanka played really good cricket.”
“When you lose a game, everything hurts. If you want to win games, we understand we have to play consistent cricket and we failed to do that today. Little disappointing, but these things happen,” added Rohit.
Rohit once again was at his attacking best to hit a 29-ball fifty, but he went for a high-risk reverse-sweep off Vandersay, and only managed to get a top edge, which was caught by backward point running across and diving to grab the catch with both hands. He said despite the dismissal being a turning point in India’s loss, he will stick by his attacking batting approach. “The reason I got 65 (64) runs is because of the way I batted. When I bat like that, there is bound to be risk taking and I’m not afraid to do that. Whenever you get out, whether you score 100, 50 or zero you feel disappointed if you don’t get across the line. But that won’t change my intent. We didn’t play good cricket, that’s why we lost the game,” he concluded.