Colombo: India’s young guns will get another opportunity to flaunt their exceptional talent. When they take the field Tuesday in the second ODI against Sri Lanka here Tuesday, the Indians will look seal the series. The Sri Lanka team were completely outplayed by seven wickets in the first ODI played Sunday.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan was left in complete awe at the exploits of Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav. They made batting look ridiculously easy in the first ODI. Dhawan himself came to the party with an unbeaten 86.
In the long run, India want to play more aggressively in the shorter formats. The performance of the trio served as a perfect template in that context.
“Absolutely, all our boys, most of them have played earlier and they are very matured and aggressive as well. The way they played the game today (Sunday) was tremendous. And I was very happy with their efforts,” Dhawan had said after the game Sunday.
The sensational batting also reinforced the might of India’s bench strength with ODI debutants Kishan and Yadav bossing the opposition from ball one. Sri Lanka bowlers also made it easier for the marauding Indian batters who romped home to the win in the 37th over.
India are unlikely to make changes in the side. They would like to pocket the series before giving chances to other youngsters in the squad. The only one feeling the heat would be Manish Pandey, who laboured to a 40-ball 26 in the series opener when others were at their fluent best.
It was good to see Kuldeep Chahal and Yuzvendra Chahal bowl in tandem after a long time. They proved once again that they perform better as a pair.
It will take a special effort from the struggling Sri Lanka side to pull one back against the rampaging visitors. The inexperienced team showed they have the talent to compete with the opposition if not win. Most of the batsmen got starts but could not convert. It is something they will have to fix to test India.
“We were trying to play longer innings – even when I was batting with Dasun Shanaka in the 42nd or 43rd over I asked him if I should go for some big shots, but he told me to wait until the 45th over. If more of our batsmen had been able to bat longer, we could have attacked earlier and gone for a bigger score. We do have the ability to get to 300 or 350, and hopefully that will happen in the next games,” said Chamika Karunaratne. He top scored in the Sri Lankan innings with an unbeaten 43.
The bowlers too need to raise their game significantly to put pressure on the high-quality Indian batsmen. Both teams also might be interested in chasing with the slow pitch playing better in the evening.