The Indian women’s team currently has the second-worst net run rate (NRR) of -1.217 in Group A and must win their remaining two matches against Sri Lanka and Australia by a huge margin to finish among the top two teams in the group.
The conditions at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium have worked in favour of the spinners and the home side has exploited them well to put a powerful Indian batting line-up on the backfoot, not once but twice in the series so far.
It was Vandersay's first international appearance since the start of the year and just his 16th match for his country since the completion of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in England in 2019, and it only came about due to an injury to first-choice spinner Wanindu Hasaranga.
In a game where the fortunes swung back and forth, India seemed to be heading towards a win after Shivam Dube smashed Wanindu Hasaranga for a six in the 47th over followed by a four in the next over by Charith Asalanka.
In Rishabh’s absence due to a horrific accident, KL donned the role in the 50-overs format for a significant period in 2023, including the ICC Men’s cricket World Cup at home and the subsequent South Africa tour.
India’s poster boy Virat Kohli stole the show as he smashed his 73rd international hundred. He scored a remarkable 113 runs off 87 balls and helped India reach a big total.
Hooda did a splendid job in the match as he smashed 41 runs off just 23 balls that included a boundary and 4 maximums.
Bumrah has been out of action since September 2022 after he suffered a back injury. He was later ruled out from the T20 World Cup citing the injury concerns
Shikhar Dhawan, who was making a comeback after an injury layoff, scored 32 and 52 in the two games against Sri Lanka and is not fussed about the competition
Shikhar Dhawan also talked about the experiment that the Indian team management is undergoing at the moment with different players.
