Twitter
Advertisement

It's raining drops for team India

Team India slumps to a 29-run defeat after indisciplined bowling and atrocious fielding.

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin
It was not only batting that let India down against Sri Lanka in the first T20 International.

Indisciplined bowling and atrocious fielding also proved costly for the home team at the VCA Stadium here on Tuesday. Sri Lanka won by 29 runs after India sprang a surprise by going in with two debutant bowlers — Ashish Nehra and Ashok Dinda.

Barring a brief first wicket stand between Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir who stitched together a 32-run partnership in 17 deliveries, India never looked in command.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, trying to scoop a Sanath Jayasuriya delivery over mid-wicket, ended up giving a simple catch to Pushpakumara. Yuvraj Singh lasted for only eight deliveries. The Punjab left-hander actually had a bad day in office. He spilled a dolly catch at point. Jayasuriya’s slash went right into Yuvraj’s hands but to everybody’s astonishment, he let it go through his fingers.

Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma also did not do justice to their reputation. Yusuf Pathan, the man who is known to turn T20 games on their heads, was a silent customer on the day. He gave away 54 runs in 4 overs and failed to trouble the scorers.

India seemed to have been jolted strongly by the absence of S Sreesanth, who was ruled out due to ill health, though his replacement Ashok Dinda did not disappoint. His wicket of Jayasuriya gave India a hope of clawing back into the match but Sri Lanka ended up scoring a formidable 215 for five. The momentum was lost when strike bowler Ishant Sharma had to go for containing the batsmen rather than for wickets. Sans Harbhajan Singh, India found it difficult to handle the middle overs. Pragyan Ojha was off-colour too.

Sri Lanka went in with two limited-over specialists — Jayasuriya and Tillakaratne Dilshan — who gave the visitors a sound start, putting on 43 runs for the wicket. Dinda dismissed Jayasuriya off the second delivery of his career. But that could not thwart the Lankans from doing what they intended to.

After Jayasuriya (26 off 20) departed, captain Kumar Sangakkara steadied the ship. He hit 11 boundaries and a couple of towering sixes in his 78 off 37 balls before being run out. Mahela Jayawardene failed with the bat, scoring only four, but it was Chamara Kapugedara who assisted the skipper well, amassing 47 off 20 deliveries laced with seven fours and a six. Angelo Mathews did not disappoint the visitors whacking 15 off 4 balls in which he cleared the ropes twice in quick succession.

India’s fielding slumped to a new low on the day as they dropped half a dozen catches and missed a few run out chances. Mike Young, India new fielding consultant, has been saying that Dhoni’s men are not a bad fielding side. He must have got a reality check on Wednesday.
Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement