Lakmal stars on ‘unplayable’ wicket

DHARAMSALA: New captain Thisara Perera hailed Suranga Lakmal as Sri Lanka’s premier fast bowler after he led the visitors to a seven-wicket win over India in the first one-day international.

Lakmal returned career-best ODI figures of 4-13 to help dismiss India for just 112, with Sri Lanka achieving the target in 20.4 overs and taking a 1-0 lead in the threematch series.

The visitors lost two early wickets in their chase before opening batsman Upul Tharanga made a 46-ball 49 to help his team end a 12-match losing streak.

“First of all we have to give 200 percent credit to our bowlers. They were disciplined, and bowled the right length and the right areas,” Perera said.

“This is an unplayable wicket. We didn’t expect that. We expected 250260, but after that Suranga and Angelo (Mathews) bowled very well.

“At the moment, (Lakmal) is our first fast bowler. He’s done very well in the Test series as well,” Perera said of Lakmal, who took eight wickets in the three Tests against India.

India’s top order found it hard to counter the bounce and swing at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium. “Today was not the ideal day for all our batters. It was an eye-opener. Hopefully we can regroup and come back in the next two matches,” said captain Rohit Sharma. “Not such a great experience (to lead for the first time), because we lost, but we’ve got to forget what happened,” he added.