'It was poor captaincy from Dhawan' - Danish Kaneria on India's final T20I loss against Sri Lanka

India fought all the way but just could not get over the line against Sri Lanka as they lost the T20I series 1-2. With India forced to play an altogether different team, the Shikhar Dhawan-led side failed to click in unison. In the last T20I match, the batting crumbled miserably as Wanindu Hasaranga picked up four wickets and reduced India to just 81. Team India had to field six bowlers considering their eight members were not available for selection.

Considering the Indian tail was long, former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria feels Dhawan should have opted to bowl first instead of batting on a slow and sluggish pitch in Colombo. The 40-year-old further opined that the Indian batters would have been well off knowing a target in front of their hands, rather than setting a target.

All of India’s batters failed against spinners and left the task too much in the end for the tailenders. Speaking about the same on his YouTube channel, how Dhawan’s decision to bat first was a wrong move. “When you have Bhuvneshwar Kumar batting at No.6, why didn’t you win the toss and opt to bowl first? The wicket at Premadasa helps spinners and you could have tried to bowl first and restrict Sri Lanka to under a hundred.”

“When you have such a long bowling line-up, there is an advantage if you bowl first and restrict the opposition. It was poor captaincy from Dhawan,” Danish Kaneria asserted.

India batters struggled against Wanindu Hasaranga

Generally, the Indian batters play spin very well and are considered one of the best players of spin. But against the leg-spin of Hasaranga, the Indian batters struggled to get going. He gave away just nine runs and picked four crucial wickets to put India on the back foot. Kaneria felt the Indian batters allowed Hasaranga to bowl to his strengths.

“Hasaranga was brilliant, but the Indian batsmen played a lot of awkward shots. Hasaranga demolished the Indian batting. He proved why he is the No.2 ranked T20I bowler. But I think the batsmen gifted wickets to him. If they would have played him carefully and knocked him around for singles if they would have scored 130-140 with the kind of bowlers they had, they could have been more competitive,” Danish Kaneria signed off.