If ever there was even a bit of doubt over the credentials and flamboyance of the Indian team on the tour of Sri Lanka, all of them were dashed out of the ground by the batting order led by Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan.
It was inevitable that the batsmen who are champions in the Indian Premier League would come hard against Sri Lanka’s bowlers, but their intensity and magnitude of aggression left all surprised. At the start of the chase, the hosts bowling attack looked so out of depth that they tried every kind of ball up their sleeves to see if Shaw would falter against one.
Then, after a short ball finally found the Mumbai lad off guard leading to his wicket, the hosts would have hoped of some respite. Another bit of surprise was thrown at them by the team management in the form of Ishan Kishan. He danced down the track on the first ball to make a bold statement about the brand of cricket India are there to play in the ODI and T20I series.
The relentless attack by Shaw, Kishan and then Suryakumar Yadav hinted at a possible change in the approach of the team management towards ODI cricket. The last time they played the format, England took on them with a completely different approach and it can be said that India are finally embracing the all-aggressive idea of ODI cricket.
Sri Lanka, on their part, did exceed the expectations by putting up a score in excess of 250 runs and it should be considered as a massive positive in the wake of their recent struggles. Batsmen got themselves in and played some delightful strokes to keep Indian bowlers in check. However, the firepower in the Indian side was too much to be defeated on a placid track in terms of movement for pacers.
Could Sri Lanka have done anything differently?
Surely yes. They would not have bowled too wide of Shaw’s off-stump or would not have bowled spinners against Ishan Kishan. They would have bowled to bring the ball back towards Shaw’s stumps and tested if he now has the answers to the questions the likes of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc had asked in Australia.
But, if they would have had in them to challenge India at so many levels, they would not be losing so many games in the recent past.
Sri Lanka vs India: Match Details
Date – Friday, July 20, 2021
Time – 03:00 PM IST
Venue – R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Broadcast: Sony LIV, Sony Sports Network
Pitch report
The surface at the R Premadasa Stadium was slow in nature and it should be no different in the second ODI.
The new Kookaburra balls swung very little in the first half of the game but bowlers made good use of slower balls and cutters as the deliveries were getting stuck in the pitch.
However, there was little to less hindrance to batsmen while playing strokes and it only improved under lights as Shaw made perfect use of the ball coming nicely onto his bat.
Team News
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka would not be too unhappy about their batting performance although they would be ruing throwing their starts. But, there would be the temptation of playing Lahiru Kumara, who can bowl well with the new ball in place of Isuru Udana who received hammering from Shaw.
Sri Lanka may well look to attack India with a short ball and Kumara can be a better exponent of that skill set than Udana.
The hosts would bank on their captain Dasun Shanaka and vice-captain Dhananjaya de Silva to bat more responsibly in the second ODI as they would have realised there were runs on offer in the first ODI only if they had survived.
India
Sanju Samson suffered a ligament injury in his knee to get out of contention of the first ODI and Ishan Kishan capitalised on the opportunity with a sparkling fifty on debut. He did not do anything wrong and even if Samson regain fitness, it’s unlikely that he would be able to replace Kishan from the playing XI.
India played two swing bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar in the first ODI and they can consider Navdeep Saini for his pace and bounce. Dushmantha Chameera extracted good pace and bounce in the first ODI and India would be tempted to unleash Saini to add one more dimension to their bowling attack.
Strongest XI
Sri Lanka
Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Lakshan Sandakan, Lahiru Kumara
India
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Prithvi Shaw, Ishan Kishan (wk), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini
Sri Lanka vs India 2nd ODI: Dream XI/fantasy XI
Ishan Kishan, Dasu Shanaka, Hardik Pandya, Wanindu Hasranga, Avishka Fernando, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Lahiru Kumara
Captain: Prithvi Shaw
Vice-captain: Shikhar Dhawan