Sri Lanka at the receiving end against india has lost 2 test series and all one day matches this year. They started their ODI tour of India after losing the test series 1-0. The first match was played at Dharamshala, a small picturesque hill resort in Himachal Pradesh. Dharamshala is an important place, as it houses the Tibet government in exile and is also the abode of the Dalai Lama. A couple of years back, Pakistan had refused to play at this venue as it would antagonise China. The Sri Lanka team had no such reservations and they played good cricket to record a resounding victory.
They were helped by the fact the Indian skipper Virat Kohli was being rested for this series. He has gone to Italy, with his girlfriend Mumbai film star Anoushka Sharma. It is rumoured that Kohli and Anoushaka will wed there as per Hindu rites. Nevertheless, the Lanka ODI skipper Thisera Perera led the visitors to a thrilling win as reported in detail by News 18.
Sharma leads
In the absence of Kohli, the mantle of captaincy fell on Rohit Sharma. He has a fantastic record in ODI and also holds the world record of the highest score of 264. Perera won the toss and asked India to bat. This was a wise decision from the word go, the Lanka seam bowlers made excellent use of the conditions and reduced India after 15 overs to 40 for 7.
The writing was on the wall and despite a heroic inning of 65 by the old warhorse MS Dhoni, India could muster only 112.
Lanka win
Lanka came to bat and knocked off the runs required for victory in a short time. The wicket had eased and the devil had gone from it. The Indian pacemen could not duplicate the effort of the Lanka pacers.
Rohit Sharma must be wondering what went wrong. The holiday crowd was disappointed at the poor showing of the team and at the end of the match, Perera said that they could have bowled out India for 50.
Lanka was definitely helped by Indian captain Kohli not playing. He is the best batsman in the world and his omission was a big loss.
Lanka however, played very well and have broken their jinx of defeats against India. There are still two matches to go and now that they have won, the Indian team will be facing a rejuvenated team.
Looking ahead
Rohit Sharma and Shikar Dhawan will have to bat better. In this match, Dhawan made zero and Rohit just 2. Their dismissal opened the floodgates and the others just caved in. The Lanka team enjoyed the pristine weather of Dharamshala after the Delhi test which was marred by air pollution, necessitating some of the Lanka players wearing masks to avoid the foul air.
