India’s middle-order collapses again, shared nine wickets between spinners Jeffrey Vandersay and Charith Asalanka.
Kolkata: It would have made sense once. However, taking the same path twice, following another exciting opening stand, imploding precisely as they did on Friday, and then losing this time to Sri Lanka while trailing 241, indicates some issues with spin bowling that India will need to address right away. For the first time since 2008, Sri Lanka was able to defeat India by 32 runs at the R Premadasa in Colombo thanks to a middle-order blunder. Jeffrey Vandersay (6/33) and Charith Asalanka shared nine wickets between them. This three-match ODI series cannot be lost by Sri Lanka after the first match was tied.
As much as this victory will encourage Sri Lanka to turn the corner after a dismal run in white-ball cricket, India may be facing problems they were unaware of. The Premadasa pitch has something about it; in four ODIs, India has lost the most wickets to spin. However, Rohit Sharma didn’t let that show in an opening stand of 97 that consumed more than a third of the target, scoring yet another fifty (64 off 44 balls).
However, tragedy struck when Pathum Nissanka skillfully held onto a catch from Sharma by sprinting to his right from backward point. Shubman Gill performed better than he had on Friday, working his way up to a 35 off 44 balls, but Kamindu Mendis’ full-stretch one-handed catch at slip ended all of his hard work. After four balls, Shivam Dube was leg-before struck by Vandersay, and he didn’t even wait to review.
Sensing a genuine opportunity, Sri Lanka was all over the place when they saw another legbreak pitching middle and slipping past the inside edge of Virat Kohli’s bat to hit his leg. The same was true of Shreyas Iyer, who pressed forward in defence but failed to keep his bat close enough. The way KL Rahul was bowled with an inside edge after attempting an expansive cut and completely missing the ball’s line was perplexing, though, as he was removed before making a run.
“Everything hurts when you lose a game,” Sharma remarked during the post-game ceremony. It goes beyond those ten overs. You have to play cricket consistently, which is something we didn’t do today. A little let down, but such is life. You must adjust to the situation that is in front of you.
Axar Patel and Washington Sundar added 38 runs for the seventh wicket, giving India a reasonable chance to win despite the spate of wickets. As Patel charged at Asalanka in his opening over, it was evident what his intentions were. He lofted a drive for a massive six over extra-cover on the first ball. When the length got a little fuller, the slog-sweep was called upon, earning Patel a four through square-leg. And it looked like the game might end closer when he hit Asalanka for another four off of short fine-leg to get 14 runs from that over.
But it never came to pass. India lost momentum after Washington and Patel were fired in quick succession. It highlighted Sri Lanka’s late-order comeback, as cameos from Dunith Wellalage (39 off 35) and Kamindu Mendis (40 off 44) lifted the hosts from 136/6 to a 72-run stand. Sri Lanka was regularly being pulled back by Washington (3/30), Kuldeep Yadav (2/33) and Patel (1/38) but India’s bowling attack will be chagrined if they allow them to escape with par totals in both games. But for the time being, there are more pressing problems with India’s middle-order batting.
