SRI LANKA FACE UPHILL BATTLE AGAINST EFFICIENT INDIANS
On the back of a demoralising defeat, Sri Lanka will face a big challenge to level the three-match series against India, when the second One Day International is played at the R. Premadasa Stadium today.
India’s so-called “B” team steamrolled the hosts in an emphatic seven-wicket win on the back of half-centuries from captain Shikhar Dhawan and Ishan Kishan, the latter making his ODI debut.
The India squad for this tour features some seasoned contributors, like Dhawan, Hardik and Krunal Pandya, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Yuzvendra Chahal, but otherwise includes fringe players, called up after the team’s first choice players travelled to England to prepare for a Test series.
Prithvi Shaw scored a blazing 24-ball 43 to set the tone in their chase of the modest, yet ultimately easy target of 263, getting there with 80 balls left in the innings.
Sri Lanka reached their score with bit-part contributions from Avishka Fernando, Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka, but the fact that none of them went on to make a score of significance hurt the hosts.
They had to rely on an unbeaten 43 by Chamika Karunaratne to get them to their score with Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav taking two wickets each.
“A lot of our batsmen got good starts, but a lot of us weren’t able to continue. We were trying to play longer innings, even when I was batting with Dasun Shanaka in the 42nd or 43rd over I asked him if I should go for some big shots, but he told me to wait until the 45th over. If more of our batsmen had been able to bat longer, we could have attacked earlier and gone for a bigger score. We do have the ability to get to 300 or 350, and hopefully, that will happen in the next games,” Karunaratne said in the aftermath of Sunday’s defeat.
“This wicket was playing a bit slow, so we did talk during our innings about putting the ball into gaps and running hard a little bit more. But they also bowled really well. They bowled in good areas and their captain managed the field well,” Karunaratne also added.
Defeat today will be Sri Lanka’s 10th in 11 ODI matches this calendar year.