The India run continued with a splendid win over the defending champions England at Lucknow. They have Sri Lanka next and while the Lankans looked a bit listless against Afghanistan, they also have a fine win against England under their belt.
In that game against England, the Sri Lankan bowlers bowled superbly to restrict England. If anything, the bowling had looked Sri Lanka’s weak point and on good batting pitches they haven’t been able to defend even 300-plus totals. Their Man-of-the-Match performer Lahiru Kumara has returned home with an injury and his replacement Chameera, although sharp in pace, hardly troubled the Afghan batters. Kusal Mendis has played a couple of blazing innings in the tournament, but against Afghanistan his batting was not the same.
Sri Lanka will depend on him and the talented trio of Nissanka, Samarawickrama and Dhananjaya de Silva if they are to put up a challenging total against India. That won’t be easy as Bumrah, Shami with the new ball and then Kuldeep and Jadeja in the middle overs have hardly given anything away. Shami coming back so strongly has been a huge plus and his uncanny habit of picking wickets in every spell that he bowls doesn’t allow the opposition batters much leeway. Kuldeep’s delivery to get Buttler out is being talked about as the ball of the tournament so far and that will do his confidence a world of good.
Rohit Sharma’s innings against England was a captain’s innings worth more than a hundred as he tailored his approach according to the needs of the situation. Rahul once again showed how important it is to have an opener batting at No. 5 because he could deal with the new ball and stabilise the innings with skipper Rohit. India’s fielding also has been showing steady improvement.
India mustn’t loosen up and keep the winning tempo going as it sends a message to the opposition that they are determined to win the trophy at home.
(Professional Management Group)
