Ind vs SL: India hit rock bottom on hilltop

For the second time in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, pitch curators made sure that demands of Team Indian to provide good seaming pitches like in South Africa were taken seriously.

Dharamsala pitch curator Sunil Chauhan should be commended for continuously providing good wickets here at the HPCA ground. It was the same wicket that was doled out against Australia in the first-ever Test played here earlier this year.

The then stand-in India skipper Ajinkya Rahane handled the situation well, but he was made a mere spectator by his own Mumbai team-mate Rohit Sharma, who was leading India for the first time, on Sunday

And, like in the Kolkata Test last month, new Sri Lanka skipper Thisara Perera decided to test Indian batting skills on the juicy track dished out for the first ODI.

The result was hardly any different from the Kolkata Test. In fact, it was worse as the hosts were reduced soon to 29/7 in the 17th over.

Sri Lanka seamer Suranga Lakmal troubled India in Kolkata and he was again in his elements on Sunday, picking up 4/13 in his 10 overs to star in his team's dominating win.

The only difference between Eden Gardens and here was that rain intervened at the right time to stop the slide of the home team, while bright sunshine here ensured continuity.

It resulted in India slumping to their third lowest ODI total at home – 112. The visitors won comfortably by seven wickets to take the lead in the three-match ODI series.

None of the top-order batsmen including openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma looked comfortable against the swing and seam on offer. Youngsters Shreyas Iyer, who made his ODI debut, and Manish Pandey too couldn't last long.

It was left to old warhorse Mahendra Singh Dhoni to take India out of the crisis situation. Though his technique was failing him, his experience made him survive till 38.2 overs. Had it not been for his calculative effort in the middle, keeping the strike and exposing his tail-enders minimally to the Sri Lankan attack, the hosts would have been staring at complete disaster.

While Dhoni has been criticised lately for batting too slow, one can't blame him for taking 87 balls to score his 65 on Sunday. He was only trying to defend off the first four deliveries before looking for a single off the last two balls of every over since losing Hardik Pandya at 28/6 by the 16th over.

Dhoni did hit 10 fours and two sixes once he settled down, but there was no one except Kuldeep Yadav (19) to allow him to breathe easy in the middle.

Sri Lanka hardly had any difficulty in chasing down this below-par total in just 20.4 overs, losing three wickets in the process.

However, the Indian bowlers tried to make a contest of it. Their new ball bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah choked opener Danushka Gunathilaka, who succumbed with a wild swing against the latter.

Upul Tharanga, Angelo Mathews and Niroshan Dickwella showed much better technique against the Indian seamers to help their team end their 12-match losing streak in the 50-over format.

Former skipper Tharanga was lucky to have escaped an early dismissal when he was caught at gully by Dinesh Karthik off Bumrah's over-stepped delivery. The last thing the Indian team wanted was to have a no ball at this juncture.

India were relieved in the next over of Kumar when left-handed Thirimanne played an outgoing delivery on to his stumps to make it 19/2.

But the Indian fightback ended in the 11th over when Pandya was introduced into the attack. Having been hit for two fours in his first over, Pandya conceded five runs in the next by bowling wide and out of reach of Dhoni. The 14-run over set the tone for Sri Lanka's easy win.