COLOMBO: Following his side’s loss to Sri Lanka in the second ODI, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said that the team will talk about its batting in the middle overs after two failures, but he does not want to sacrifice on his own attacking intent at the top.
Jeffrey Vandersay weaved magic, left India batters speechless and handed Sri Lanka a 1-0 lead in the series following their 32-run triumph in the second ODI on Sunday at the R Premadasa Stadium.
Speaking after the game in the post-match presentation, Rohit said, “When you lose a game, everything hurts. It is not just about those 10 overs (of the first powerplay). You have to play consistent cricket and we failed to do that today. I am a little disappointed but these things happen. You have to adapt to what is in front of you. With the left and right combination, we felt it will be easier to rotate strike. Credit to Jeffrey, he got six wickets.”
“The reason I got 65 is because of the way I batted. When I am batting like that, there is a lot of risks taken. If you do not cross the line, you always feel disappointed. I do not want to compromise on my intent. We understand nature of this surface, it gets really tough in the middle overs. You have to try to get as many as possible in the powerplay. We were not good enough. Do not want to look too much into how we played. But there will be talks about our batting in the middle overs,” he added.
Coming to the match, SL won the toss and elected to bat first. Knocks from Avishka Fernando (40 in 62 balls, with five fours), Kamindu Mendis (40 in 44 balls, with four boundaries) and Dunith Wellalage (39 in 35 balls, with a four and two sixes) played a crucial role in taking SL to 240/9 in their 50 overs.
Washington Sundar (3/30), and Kuldeep (2/33) were the top bowlers for India. Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel also got a wicket.
During the run chase, skipper Rohit (66 in 44 balls, with five fours and four sixes) and Shubman Gill (35 in 44 balls, with three fours), started off well with a 97-run partnership, but a game-changer spell from Jeffrey Vandersay (6/33) reduced India to 147/6. Axar Patel (44 in 44 balls, with four boundaries) tried to fight it out for India, but they were bundled out for 208 runs in 42.2 overs.
Skipper Charith Asalanka (3/20) also delivered a fine bowling performance for SL.
SL took a 1-0 lead in the series with a game to go. Vandersay won the ‘Player of the Match’ honours. (ANI)