Dharamsala: In the recent past, the talk by the think-tank of the Indian cricket team has been about playing in difficult conditions and learning the ways to adjust and adapt. The intent has been to prepare with the tough South African series looming large.
They got a taste of that ‘tough’ condition here Sunday at the HPCA Stadium and could not adapt and were bowled out for a mere 112 in just 38.2 overs. They would not have even reached that score had not MS Dhoni (65, 87b, 10×4, 2×6) not stood tall and guided the tail to rescue India from 29 for seven to a score past the 100-run mark.
And even though India had Sri Lanka reduced to 19 for two in the first 36 of the innings and conjured up hopes of the impossible, the target of 113 was too small to defend. Upul Tharanga (49, 46b, 10×4), Angelo Mathews (25 n o, 42b, 5×4) and Niroshan Dickwella (26 n o, 24b, 5×4) guided the visitors safely over the line to end their 12-match losing streak.
In conditions where the ball jagged back and moved away, the Indian batters looked horribly inadequate technique-wise. Suranga Lakmal (4/13), Mathews (1/8) and Nuwan Pradeep (2/37) used the conditions to a nicety as they found the inside and outside edges of the Indian batsmen. The moving ball created doubts in the batsmen’s minds, they became leaden-footed and in the end, the fate of the game was already decided by the 17th over of the game with seven back in the hut.
The score card made pretty interesting reading. Shikhar Dhawan (2), Rohit Sharma (0), Shreyas Iyer (9), Dinesh Karthik (0), Manish Pandey (2), Hardik Pandya (10) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0) – all perished unable to read the seam and swing. Either they were playing down the wrong line to the one that jagged back or they were not to the pitch of the ball when it moved away. If the South Africans had been watching this game, they must have been licking their licks in anticipation.
In recent times, the complaint against Dhoni has been about the number of balls he consumes, before getting into his groove. Well Sunday, the template was ideal for him. From the first ball he stepped out to the pacers to negate the swing, thereby forcing them to change their length and with it the effectiveness.
Dhoni guided and cajoled Kuldeep Yadav (19) to a 41-run partnership for the seventh wicket and then scored all the 25 runs during his last wicket stand with Yuzvendra Chahal (0 n o). He finally fell trying to hit Sri Lankan skipper Thisara Perea (1/29) over cover only to find the fielder on the line. But this was an innings which he certainly would be proud of. But even then it was too little too late for the Indians.
Agencies