After the first ODI match ended up in a tie, Sri Lanka beat India by 32 runs, leading the series with 1-0.

Photo credits: News 18

It has been years, since Sri Lanka won a bilateral series against India, which was in 1997. Since then, India has continued to dominate winning 11 comprehensive series till now breaking the streak of 27 years. It is likely that Indian ODI captain Rohit Sharma and his boys would prepare to hit off in the third ODI on 7th August , and win the series, which would be tricky but eventual. This ODI series proved to be troublesome for Team India as the first ODI ended up in draw, scoring only 230. As well as the second ODI, the faltering of middle order batters was where the game for India crumbled.

Highlights of the match

Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat, which could give them an advantage till second innings because of the dry pitch. Sri Lankan batters were under crease until Washington Sundar started picking up wickets, along with Kuldeep Yadav, but soon they overcame by 74 run partnership of Kamindu and Wellalage for the seventh wicket and scored 240.

However in the second innings, Rohit Sharma pivoted the match score with his 64 runs, managing a half century, but after he was knocked out by Vandersay. Jeffrey Vandersay got 6 wickets, six big wickets of top batsmen of Indian team, the middle order of batting was tacky and poor. Even though Axar Patel and Washington Sundar 38 run partnership kept India’s score at bay. But after Axar Patel’s departure, it was all over and India just scored 208 losing the match by 32 runs.

The reaction of Rohit Sharma losing another ODI match after 19th November.

Photo credits: The Economic times

Indian ODI captain Rohit Sharma was disappointed with the team’s batting performance and admitted the middle powerplay needs to be improved. “When you lose a game, everything hurts. It’s not just about those 10 overs. You have to play consistent cricket and we failed to do that. Little disappointed but these things happen,” he said in the post match conference. He also said he was able to score 64 runs because of his batting skills. He made yet another record becoming first Indian to hit off 300 sixes in One Day International (ODI). So despite losing the match, it stood out to be a milestone in his career.

The unexpected defeat in Gambhir’s era

After winning the previous T20 series under Gautam Gambhir ,hopes rose impeccably but turned out to be wrought as the first ODI match ended up in a draw and second ODI match was a poor show. This does puts the question on table, Is the Indian team under Gambhir is on the right path. Abhishek Nayar, the assistant coach revealed that the strategy was fine, however the result didn’t turn out to be expected and hence the loss. This would put a question mark on the Indian team, as well as the authority on their decisions, and the future of cricket performances.