India v Sri Lanka 1st ODI, 2017: Who Said What

Rohit Sharma had a forgettable captaincy debut as the Indian team was completely outplayed by Sri Lanka in the 1st ODI of the series at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. Deciding to bowl first the Lankan bowlers were right on the money making the most of the seaming conditions on offer. They had the Indians down on their knees and it was only because of MS Dhoni’s valiant knock that the team got past the 100-run mark.

From 29/7 he took them to 112 with his half century, he scored 65 with the help of 10 fours and a couple of sixes. Suranga Lakmal was the pick of the bowlers returning with figures of 10-4-13-4. But, given how the conditions were changing it wasn’t going to be enough. By the time the Lankan batters took guard most of the moisture from the surface had dried out and the conditions were getting better for batting with every passing over.

The Indian seamers did inflict a couple of early blows but the target was too small and with no pressure of the scoring rate it was just a matter of time. Upul Tharanga’s 49 and unbeaten 20s from Niroshan Dickwella and Angelo Mathews Sri Lanka got over the line with 7 wickets in hand.

He had a brilliant ODI captaincy debut that ended the team’s 12-match losing streak. Thisara Perera said:

“First of all we have to give 200% credit to our bowlers. They were disciplined, and bowled the right length and the right areas. This is an unplayable wicket. We didn’t expect that. We expected 250-260, but after that Suranga and Angelo bowled very well.

At the moment, (Suranga Lakmal) is our first fast bowler. He’s done very well in the Test series as well. I have to mention that Upul gave a good start and he’s one of our best openers.”

In the post-match presentation Indian captain Rohit Sharma said:

“Two games to go, but having said that, we were not up to the mark today with the bat. Not enough runs on the board. The bowlers came out and did what they could. If we had 70-80 more runs, it could have been different, but we lost the match with the bat today. We want to thrive in these type of conditions and come out good. We won’t always get to play on flat pitches.

Today was not the ideal day for all our batters. It was an eye-opener. Hopefully we can regroup and come back in the next two matches. (MS Dhoni) has done it for so many years and he knows exactly how to bat in these situations. Someone else with him could have made the difference but he was battling alone.

Not such a great experience (captaining India for the first time), because we lost, but we’ve got to forget what happened, and come back in the next two games.”

The player of the match Suranga Lakmal said:

“Last few years have been very good. Credit to the coaching staff who have done a lot of hard work with me. My fitness, my hard work, my health, everything has come together.”