It is often said, ‘lightning never strikes twice’. India and Sri Lanka, though, seem to be on a mission to prove the saying wrong after playing their second tied encounter in as many games, albeit in different formats. In the third and final T20I in Pallekele, the Lankans made a mess of a small chase, tied a game they should have won, and eventually lost in the Super Over.
On Friday, India returned the favour in the first One-Day International, failing to score one run despite having two wickets and 15 balls before being bowled out. The only difference this time was that there was no one-over shoot-out to break the logjam.
When the two sides square off against each other for the second One-Day International at the R. Premadasa International Stadium on Sunday, the focus will be on being more clinical in closing out the match and not allowing the opposition a chance to get back into the contest.
The pitch for the first game aided spinners considerably, and once the ball became soft, boundaries were hard to come by. Though Sri Lankan interim head coach Sanath Jayasuriya said on the eve of the opening game that he hoped to get good surfaces suitable for one-day cricket, it remains to be seen if the strip for Sunday’s game will be drastically different.
India will rue the first outing as a missed opportunity in not taking a 1-0 lead in the three-match series despite dominating most phases of the game.
The Indian bowlers were largely impressive, and skipper Rohit Sharma showed no signs of rustiness on his return to ODIs for the first time since the heartbreaking defeat in the World Cup final against Australia last November.
He continued from where he left off in the World Cup by being aggressive in the PowerPlay.
However, Once the spinners came on, most Indian batters struggled to rotate the strike, and the boundaries dried up. The team will look to improve in this area and establish a few more enduring partnerships.
The first ODI also gave a glimpse of what the team is looking to build under new coach Gautam Gambhir. Like in the T20Is,
The penchant for having more than a few left-handed batters was visible, with Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, and Shivam Dube forming the core of the middle order.
With K.L. Rahul continuing to keep wickets, India seems to be prioritising having the cushion of a sixth bowler over Rishabh Pant’s X-factor for now.
On the other hand, the hosts continue to fret over a fragile middle-order that continues to struggle against the Indian tweakers. Without Dunith Wellalage’s lower-order resistance, the Lions were in danger of being bundled out cheaply.
Later, the spinners maximised the conditions to avoid the ignominy of another defeat, and Sri Lanka emerged from the first game as moral winners. On Sunday, the home team would want to make it a statistical reality.
Ahead of the second match, Sri Lanka received another injury blow after leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga was ruled out of the remaining two fixtures due to a hamstring injury he suffered during the first ODI.
Fellow leggie Jeffrey Vandersay has been named as Hasaranga’s replacement.
The teams (from):
India: Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, K.L. Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed and Harshit Rana.
Sri Lanka: Charith Asalanka (Capt.), Pathum Nissanka, Avishka Fernando, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Nishan Madushka, Jeffrey Vandersay, Dunith Wellalage, Chamika Karunaratne, Maheesh Theekshana, Akila Dananjaya, Asitha Fernando, Mohamed Shiraz and Eshan Malinga
Match starts at 2.30 p.m. IST.
