Michael Roberts
Given the humid and rainy conditions, why the Sri Lankan management chose to bat on winning the toss is a major issue for deate after the collapse for 5 runs in the face of some excllent seam and swing bowling from Siraj, Bumrah and Pandya.
Notwithstanding the quality of the Indian bowling, the techniques and batting of the Sri Lankan batsmen [yes bastmen] left much to be desired.
| BATTING | R | B | M | 4s | 6s | SR | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c Jadeja b Mohammed Siraj | 2 | 4 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 50.00 | |||
| c †Rahul b Bumrah | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| b Mohammed Siraj | 17 | 34 | 59 | 3 | 0 | 50.00 | |||
| lbw b Mohammed Siraj | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| c Ishan Kishan b Mohammed Siraj | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| c †Rahul b Mohammed Siraj | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 200.00 | |||
| b Mohammed Siraj | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| c †Rahul b Pandya | 8 | 21 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 38.09 | |||
| not out | 13 | 15 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 86.66 | |||
| c Kohli b Pandya | 1 | 6 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 16.66 | |||
| c Ishan Kishan b Pandya | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | |||
| Extras | (lb 2, w 3) | 5 | |||||||
| TOTAL | 15.2 Ov (RR: 3.26) | 50 | |||||||
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Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Kusal Perera, 0.3 ov), 2-8 (Pathum Nissanka, 3.1 ov), 3-8 (Sadeera Samarawickrama, 3.3 ov), 4-8 (Charith Asalanka, 3.4 ov), 5-12 (Dhananjaya de Silva, 3.6 ov), 6-12 (Dasun Shanaka, 5.4 ov), 7-33 (Kusal Mendis, 11.2 ov), 8-40 (Dunith Wellalage, 12.3 ov), 9-50 (Pramod Madushan, 15.1 ov), 10-50 (Matheesha Pathirana, 15.2 ov) • DRS
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| BOWLING | O | M | R | W | ECON | 0s | 4s | 6s | WD | NB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 4.60 | 20 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 7 | 1 | 21 | 6 | 3.00 | 34 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2.2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1.28 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
This loss is due to the mind boggling decision to bat. Whoever made that decision in management should resign or be forced out.
In Sri Lanka we have galore of excuses and explanations for any failure. It is not limited to sports. It’s a part of Sri Lankan character. We do not believe in forecasting, prediction but go on with wishful thinking. Don’t rush into conclusions; the cricketers and authorities will come out with a load of convincing excuses. So no one has to resign. The blame will be pinned on rainy weather.