India’s ‘B team’ cruised to an easy win against the hosts in the first ODI played at the RPIS.
It was a one way affair in all departments. Apart from the decent 1st 10 overs by the Lankans batting first, and a counterattacking last 5 overs at the end of the innings, it never looked like India were made to sweat.
Sri Lankan batters gifted their wickets away from the beginning. One cannot really call any of the dismissals which were earned hard by the Indian bowlers. Almost all of them were gifted, showing the inexperience and lack of composure required in a 50 over game in hosts’ batters.
Thanks to all-rounder Chamika Karunaratne’s 43 off 35, who has showed glimpses of his ability with the bat in his very early career so far, non of the batsmen really showed any kind of application or hunger to play the big innings.
At the innings break though, everyone thought 262 at RPS was just about par. Especially considering the difficulties chasing teams face in Sri Lanka. Even an encouraging stat that only 10.45% of the D/N matches have been won in Sri Lanka by teams chasing, could not assist the Lankans to put up a fight.
India chased down 262 with over 13 Overs to spare. That is a humongous win in modern cricket, especially considering the late order big-hitting power of India which was not even required. The way India finished off the match, it made one wonder if even 350 would have been competitive.
Youngsters Pritiv Shaw and Debutant Ishant Kishan showed the real meaning of Fearless Cricket. For a moment it looked like they forgot they were playing a 50-over match. They were in T20 mode, showing us traces of their performances in the IPL.
Coming in at No.3 after the dismissal of Shaw, Kishan dispatched the first ever ball he faced in ODI cricket for a huge six. This shows the confidence and attitude this new indian team is riding on.
Skipper Dhawan played the perfect anchor role, while he let his younger exuberant batsmen express themselves. At the end he remained unbeaten with a well composed 86, showing his vast experience and class against a toothless Sri Lankan bowing line up.
Sri Lanka will have a lot of thinking to do, starting off with deciding if they selected the right playing XI. They also need to look at the approach of the batters and look at ways of being attacking in the field, to put up a challenge against this strong Indian unit.
They have one day to ponder on that and come up with a better plan with whatever resources they got, before the 2nd ODI, which will begin on Tuesday (20).