Pallekele: India have stayed true to their promised brand of play, embracing aggression with the bat as their calling card in the first two Twenty20 Internationals against Sri Lanka. That’s unlikely to change going forward; it’s in their bowling that they will seek greater penetration, especially with the new ball that hasn’t quite fetched them the dividends they would have liked.
Suryakumar Yadav’s maiden foray as full-time T20I skipper has been quite the success, both as batter and leader. In both of India’s victories, he has been characteristically effervescent; his 26-ball 58 was the cornerstone of India’s 213 for seven in game one while on Sunday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, he lashed 26 off a mere 12 deliveries, rendering what could have been a tricky chase of 78 in eight overs in a rain-hit encounter into ridiculously one-way traffic.
With the captain leading the way, India are sitting on a handsome 2-0 lead going into Tuesday’s final outing. The opportunity to register an 18th win in 19 matches this year will appeal to this new-look team which is determined to carve out its own identity in the post-Rohit Sharma period while for Sri Lanka, pride and a return of confidence are the key targets ahead of the One-Day Internationals starting later this week.
Sri Lanka have been spectacularly let down by their middle order over the weekend. Handily placed at 149 for three and 130 for two respectively after 15 overs in games one and two, they only mustered 173 and 161 for nine, singularly insufficient against India’s turbo-charged batters. For them to stand any chance of a consolation victory, it is imperative that new captain Charith Asalanka and his middle-order brethren augment the efforts of Kusal Mendis, Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Perera, the Sanath Jayasuriya doppelganger who smashed a blazing half-century on Sunday.
Suryakumar has shown nous and out-of-the-box thinking, best illustrated by his use of Riyan Parag’s bowling. Arriving in Sri Lanka as a potential part-time option, the Assamese has impressed with his control and smarts; three for five on Saturday was flattering, no doubt, but he was excellent on Sunday when he went through his four overs unchanged. The used surface offered him substantial assistance and Parag showcased great maturity in bowling within himself when he could so easily have gotten carried away by the sight of the ball fizzing past the bat of the several left-handers in the Lankan ranks.
Parag went wicketless, but his four overs for 30 was instrumental in fellow spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel getting among the wickets. His success might goad the new leadership group of Suryakumar and Gautam Gambhir to turn to Washington Sundar for the dead rubber. The Tamil Nadu man was the Player of the Series in Zimbabwe earlier this month with eight wickets in five outings and will be as keen as Khaleel Ahmed and Shivam Dube, both yet to get a game, to step on the park and reiterate his value to the team in white-ball cricket.
Training cancelled
The six players who have been picked for the ODIs alone – Rohit Virat Kohli KL Rahul Shreyas Iyer Kuldeep Yadav and rookie Harshit Rana – arrived on Monday but their first training session in Colombo had to be cancelled due to rain reports DHNS from Colombo.