By: Tarish Bhatt
With the kind of bowling attack available, India could win nine out of ten times after scoring 321 for six in the 50 over format. However, India didn’t finish the game on a high. Reason being the pitch was flat and bowlers were not able to unsettle the Sri Lankans, who were able to round up the match with eight balls to spare.
It was a complete shocker for the Indian fans, who almost knew after the first essay of the match that Indian Team had a chance to seal its place in the semi-finals. Apart from the flat deck which was an absolute paradise for batting, something else also went wrong.
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It is understood that the Lankans were able to use the gap between the fielders perfectly and that made a huge difference to the end result. The team management too discussed this at length.
But, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, captain Angelo Mathews and Asela Gunaratne made most of the big Oval field without losing the sight of the winning target.
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It became so bad for India that even captain Virat Kohli had to come and roll his arms along with part-timer Kedar Jadhav with a hope that the Lankan batsmen would play a loose shot.
Barring two run-outs, nothing went in favour of the Indians, who not only struggled but didn’t look like the team with a bowling heavy side. Of course, the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni clicked with the bat and helped India to make a very competitive total. On the whole, it wasn’t enough to stop the Lankans!
