India was shaken! The Men in Blue are surely not on the right track after getting battered by a team that isn’t even qualified for the upcoming Champions Trophy after a tie in the first match.
Batting first, Sri Lanka put forward a score of 240, losing 9 wickets. Chasing the score, India was in the driving seat, scoring 90 runs in the opening partnership. Then the first hit happened as the skipper Rohit Sharma gave away his wickets when he was at 64. India couldn’t turn back from there. I mean, they couldn’t turn anywhere, let alone front out of the shocker, as one after the other, the middle order marched back to the pavilion with near nil on their scorecard. When it was 135 on the scoreboard, they had already lost 5 batters to the Lankan bowling attack.
If it wasn’t for Axar Patel, who added 44 runs, India wouldn’t have seen 200. But it doesn’t matter, as the mighty Blues fell short of 32 runs at the end of the match and are trailing 0-1 in the series.
Indian Assistant Coach Speaks About the Socker vs Lanka
Addressing this, India’s assistant coach, Abhishek Nayar, admits that the team is still in shock over the embarrassing defeat. He was surprised by ‘the sudden change in the game’s momentum’.
“It was indeed a shock. While the dramatic shift was anticipated given the considerable spin, the sudden change in the game’s momentum still came as a surprise. In these conditions, the game can unexpectedly flip on its head.”
“Scoring against the new ball was easy, like the previous game. However, the conditions became challenging for batters when the ball became old. This is something that happens in this format.”
“Vandersy bowled exceptionally well, maintaining the ideal length for the conditions. When the ball was turning and he was bowling stump-to-stump with finger spin. The pitch then becomes helpful during these phases.”
“Batting first typically carries less pressure, as the focus is on building partnerships and setting a strong target. In contrast, when chasing, the pressure mounts as teams must monitor the run rate and wickets in hand. Wellalage batted wonderfully in both games.”
“We lost key wickets in the middle overs, which was the period when our middle-order batters were at the crease. It’s not as if the middle-order batters were batting at the end. The focus was more on maintaining a left-right batting combination, while also keeping in mind the presence of off-spinners and a leg-spinner in the Sri Lankan bowling attack.”
India will have a chance to tie the series on August 7 when they meet the Lankan warriors again. Losing the third win would be unimaginable for the Blues.
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