Sri Lanks lost the first ODI and would be kicking themselves with the way they lost the match. Arjuna Ranatunga went on to say that this is 2nd string side and B-team but even this B-team managed to beat Sri Lanka quite comprehensively. Sri Lanka batted well as they had a decent total but their bowling was horrible. India chased down 263 in 36 overs and this would have haunted them that night.
India’s young guns Prithwi Shaw and Ishan Kishan batted the way they know. They were absolute genius as they killed the match in the first 10 overs themselves. Ishan Kishan became only the second player in the world to score 50 in his ODI and T20I debut. Surya Kumar Yadav also showed that he can play ODIs and can play anchor as well as finisher roles.
Sri Lanka didn’t have alone contributors but many of their batsmen chipped in. It can also be taken in a way that they threw the start that they got. It was unfortunate but this Sri Lankan has been in redeveloping stage since 2015 and thus far they haven’t been able to identify talent who will serve their country for a long time. We see changes in every series they play and the biggest drawback was that 3 of their premier players got banned before the series even started.
From whatever resources that they have Sri Lanka will have to hold on to the catches as they dropped 3-4 catches in the previous match and this should be taken seriously. At international standards, such catches should have been taken but they dropped sitters. India wouldn’t have missed out on such opportunities as Ishan Kishan was dropped the first ball and he went on to score a quick 50 that ruled Sri Lanka out of that match.
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It is rightly said that Catches Win Matches and Sri Lanka’s bowling is ordinary and in that, if they miss catches then there’s no way they can think of winning. Shikhar Dhawan’s captaincy was impressive as he made good bowling changes and placed the right fielders at the right place. Manish Pandey has been out of flavor for a while and after getting the opportunity, he missed out in the first ODI. He will have to grab his chances to put his name in contention as the competition is quite fierce now.
Rahul Dravid has marshalled the troops nicely and all the players only have good things to say about their coach who has trained most of the players during A tours and U-19 tournaments. Sanju Samson has been ruled out of the ODI series and might be missing the T20I as well as he has suffered a knee injury and is currently under observation of BCCI’s medical team. Hopefully, we will have some contest today and this may not be a one-sided affair like the previous encounter.
