The Indian cricket team, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma, lost the third ODI match at iconic Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium against Charith Asalanka-led Sri Lanka on 7 August by a whopping 110 runs. With this latest win on Wednesday, Sri Lanka made history by defeating India in a bilateral ODI series after a gap of 27 years since 1997.
The Indian batters except Rohit Sharma struggled significantly against spin bowling in all three matches of the series, and during the post-match presentation, captain Rohit Sharma was asked if he felt the side was “complacent.” However, the skipper Rohit Sharma was visibly unimpressed with the question and called it a “joke.”
India’s disastrous loss in 3rd ODI and overview of the series
Sri Lanka posted a total of 248 off 7 wickets in 50 overs on Wednesday after winning the toss against India. Sri Lanka’s Avishka Fernando scored 96 off 102 balls, while Kusal Mendis (59) and Pathum Nissanka (45) contributed with their bat. Riyan Parag took three wickets for India, while Mohammed Siraj, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav clinched one wicket each.
Chasing a target of 249 runs, India were ALL OUT in 138 runs in just 26.1 overs. Skipper Rohit Sharma scored 35 off 20 balls for India, and Washington Sundar hit 30 off 25 deliveries. Apart from this, no other batter could cross 20 runs, including Virat Kohli. For Sri Lanka, Dunith Wellalage took five wickets, Maheesh Theekshana and Jeffrey Vandersay took two wickets each, and Asitha Fernando clinched one wicket.
Stats-wise, Sri Lanka’s Dunith Wellalage has become the first spinner to take five wickets in an ODI against India on more than one occasion, as he picked a fifer (5/40 in Colombo) on 2023 and 5/27 in Colombo) on 2024. Avishka Fernando was awarded the player of the match, while Dunith Wellalage won the player of the series.
Mohammed Siraj has enjoyed some of his best times in international cricket against Sri Lanka. The tour of 2024 wasn’t among them though. For as well as he bowled in conditions not best suited for pace bowling, he returned only three wickets in as many games – exactly the number of times he aggressively stared down at the opposition batters unprovoked. Given the combined contribution of the Indian pace attack in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, the charged-in aggression probably didn’t fit in too well.
It wasn’t too different for Asitha Fernando either though, the one-man pace attack for Sri Lanka, who had reserved his version of the ‘fast bowler’s unprovoked aggression’ for Virat Kohli. For the 27-year-old who had featured in only seven ODIs before the series, and managed to find a place so easily in the XI at the back of six other frontline pacers getting ruled out due to injury, there was probably a victory to show in the end.
Irrespective of the brave front of machoism that was showcased by the pacers, eventually the spotlight of the series was stolen by their lesser-aggressive bowling partners – the spinners, who combined to bag 44 wickets across three games. The trial by spin in Colombo was won by Sri Lanka yet again on Wednesday – this time more emphatically – as they distanced themselves from India by 110 runs.
India’s struggles in the series which were largely prominent while batting in the middle overs in the first two games, had advanced to the powerplay by the time it reached the last game of the series. Their chase had shut shop by the time it even reached the middle phase on Wednesday.
The spin struggle, instead of being ironed out during the two-day rest, only accentuated with as many as eight batters getting dismissed either leg before, bowled or stumped. The struggle to even put bat to ball resulted in 21 of the 27 dismissals that were effected against spin, screamed loud enough for the Indian captain Rohit Sharma to admit “We all know what the issues are, no point digging deep.”
Across all three games, there was only one noteworthy batter – Rohit Sharma, who not only top-scored for India in all three games but also presented the only real threat on behalf of the visiting side. A big reason for that was his advantage of facing the spinners with the hard ball and field restrictions on, which allowed him to effectively play on the up and take them apart in the Powerplay.
As the ball got softer and started turning, the pitch slowed down and the field restrictions were lifted, the limitations of the Indian batters to play in such conditions were also exposed. Following the series defeat in the presentations and press conference Indian skipper Rohit Sharma showed no mercy or reason to hide why India lost to the Islanders.
Rohit Sharma reflects on India’s first bilateral ODI series loss to Sri Lanka in 27 years
Team India captain Rohit Sharma admitted that the Men in Blue were not brave enough to take on the Sri Lankan spinners in challenging conditions and paid the price for it with a series loss. Rohit Sharma added that India will address the issue and look to improve on their flaws.
Sri Lanka beat India by 110 runs in the third ODI of the three-match series at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday, August 7. With the win, the hosts claimed the series 2-0, registering their first bilateral ODI series win over India in 27 years.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Indian captain Rohit Sharma conceded that the Men in Blue did not do enough with the bat to put the pressure back on Sri Lanka’s slow bowlers, which was crucial on the spinning surfaces.
“On such wickets, you have to try and keep having left-right combinations. At the end of the day, it’s important to take on the game on such pitches, where the ball is spinning and scoring is tough. You need to be a little brave. I don’t think we were brave enough throughout the series to put them under pressure a little bit. We were behind in that aspect,” Rohit said.
“But these things happen, so I do not want to look too much into it. We will address the concerns for sure,” the 37-year-old went on to add.
While most other Indian batters struggled in the ODI series, Rohit Sharma finished as the leading run-getter, with 157 runs from three innings at an average of 52.33 and a strike rate of 141.44.
Rohit Sharma on squad selection for Sri Lanka ODI tour
While elaborating on India’s woes against the spinning ball on turning tracks, Rohit admitted that team has faced such issues in the past as well. He added that the think tank would not hesitate in taking some tough decisions with regards to change in personnel, with the aim to make India a more versatile side.
“We’ve had these issues in the past as well. We’ve had issues with keeping the tempo of the game. It is all about individual plans – how they want to take the bowlers on. We know where the problems are. We have to talk about it and let the players know that this is what we want,” the in-form opener said.
“If we have to be little different in choosing the personnel, we have to do that, unfortunately. We’ll try and see how we can be a good team on all kind of conditions, not just on good pitches or seaming pitches,” he concluded.
After Rohit Sharma, Axar Patel (79 runs) was India’s leading run-getter in the ODI series. Virat Kohli scored 58 runs in three innings and Shubman Gill 57. Rohit Sharma’s first ODI assignment following India’s run to the World Cup final last year has ended on a winless note, handing Sri Lanka their first series win in 27 years against India in the 50-over format.
A series where they would’ve looked to find a few answers has ended with them being left with more questions instead. Even as India are unlikely to play limited-overs cricket in similar conditions any time in the near future, with only three ODIs scheduled hereafter, there is still ample need to find a few fixes.