India look to battle sluggish pitch, overcome Lankan spin threat

Kohli, KL Rahul in focus as India face Sri Lanka in second ODI on Sunday; Wanindu Hasaranga ruled out of remaining ODIs

Colombo: Measures to battle a sluggish pitch and an assortment of Sri Lankan slow bowlers will feature high on India’s strategy list for the second ODI to be played here on Sunday.

Chasing a manageable 231, India were comfortably placed at 130 for three in the first ODI on Friday before losing their way against Lankan spinners, who showed enough pluck to bowl out the visitors for 230 to earn a tie. Once they survived the Rohit Sharma onslaught upfront, Lanka executed their plans well against the Indian batters, which are not the cleverest performers on rank turners, while not many are though.

---

The home side employed their army of tweakers against Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, the meat of Indian top and middle-order, with a telling amount of success. The troika was not uncomfortable but was unable to break free either against some well-directed moves of the Lankans, who were precise in their calculations.

Kohli was tied up by Dunith Wellalage, the left-arm spinner, and leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga as the 29 balls that the Indian batter faced out of a total of 32 were by the spinners. Hasaranga eventually nicked him off, while seeing the comfort of Shreyas against spinners, Lankan skipper Charith Asalanka pressed pacer Asitha Fernando into service.

Fernando repaid the faith in him with the wicket of Shreyas with a peach, also the only Indian wicket to have fallen to a quick. Rahul, another excellent player of spin, too was snaffled by Hasaranga. But stuttering in one match offers too small a footprint to go after some of the accomplished names, but the Indians will be eager to bat long and rotate the strike, which is the key to nullifying spinners on such decks.

Sri Lankans Pathum Nissanka and Wellalage showed that en route to their fifties despite a flurry of wickets at the other end while dealing with Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar effectively. The four Indian spinners, including Shubman Gill, leaked 126 in 30 overs for four wickets, while their Lankan counterparts’ figures stood at – 167 in 37.5 overs for nine wickets.

So, the Indians will want to minimise the damage without compromising on their run-making ways. Bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule said as much. “We did bat well in patches, and we could have had some partnerships that would have taken us (home) with less wickets going. We tried our best to get into partnerships,” said Bahutule after the first match.

One option India can mull is to bring in either Rishabh Pant or Riyan Parag as both are extremely good at countering spinners and can upset their rhythm by playing some of those unorthodox shots. Wellalage did that to perfection while scooping and reverse-sweeping Washington Sundar and Axar.

Additionally, Parag comes in with the bundle offer of being an off-spinner and leg-spinner at the same time. But it remains to be seen whether the Indian team management will make a change after just one match, which has not been their trait for a while now.

From Sri Lanka’s perspective, they will enter the second match of the three-match series with a better frame of mind after shackling a much superior and vastly experienced opponent. However, they will keep an eye on the fitness of Hasaranga, who was seen clutching his hamstring towards the end of his spell in the opening one-dayer.